wx    v^      * 

or 


Emm'ran  <£fbtr 
.3  s  so  ft  atom 

SERIES    II,    NO.    1  MARCH,    1908 

Second  Edition,  February,  1911 

THE  SMOKE 
NUISANCE 


DEPARTMENT  OF  NUISANCES 


American  Civic  Association 


President 
J.  HORACE  McFARLAND,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

First  Vice-President 
CLINTON  ROGERS  WOODRUFF,  Philadelphia 

Treasurer 
WILLIAM  B.  ROWLAND,  New  York 

Secretary 
RICHARD  B.  WATROUS,  Washington,  D.  C, 

V  ice-Presidents 

GEORGE  B.  DEALEY,  Dallas,  Texas 
JOHN  WESLEY  HILL,  D.D.,  New  York 
MRS.  EDWARD  W.  BIDDLE,  Carlisle,  Pa. 
GEORGE  W.  MARSTON,  San  Diego,  Cal. 
J.  LOCKIE  WILSON,  Toronto,  Canada 

Executive  Board 


DR.  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS,  New  York. 
CHARLES  W.  AMES,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 
HENRY  A.  BARKER,  Providence,  R.  I. 
Miss  MABEL  T.  BOARDMAN, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
FRANK  CHAPIN  BRAY,  New  York 
MRS.  CAROLINE  BARTLETT  CRANE, 

Kalamazoo,  Mich. 
GEORGE  OTIS  DRAPER,  New  York 
FREDERICK  L.  FORD,  Hartford,  Conn. 
EDWARD  HATCH,  JR.,  New  York 
J.  L.  HUDSON,  Detroit,  Mich. 


MRS.  MELVILLE  F.  JOHNSTON, 

Richmond,  Ind. 

HARLAN  P.  KELSEY,  Salem,  Mass. 
MRS.  A.  E.  McCREA,  Chicago,  111. 
Miss  LOUISE  KLEIN  MILLER, 

Cleveland,  Ohio 

FRANK  D.  MILLET,  Washington,  D.  C. 
MRS.  EDWIN  F.  MOULTON, Warren,  Ohio 
JOHN  NOLEN,  Cambridge,  Mass. 
FREDERICK  LAW  OLMSTED, 

Brookline,  MASS. 
BRAINARD  H.  WARNER, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


Address  all  communications  to  the 
General  Offices  of  the  Association 

UNION     TRUST     BUILDING 
WASHINGTON,    D.    C. 


American  Citric  Bssoctatton 

DEPARTMENT    OF  NUISANCES 

SERIES     II,     NO.     I  MARCH,     1908 

Second  Edition,  February^  igil 

THE 
SMOKE  NUISANCE 

BY 

FREDERICK   LAW   OLMSTED 

HARLAN    PAGE   KELSEY 
AND    THE    OFFICERS    OF    THE    ASSOCIATION 


"  The  'way  to  abate  smoke  is  not  to  make  it." 

*AH  iuho  are  guilty  of  polluting  the  atmosphere  should  be 
penalized.  New  York  City  makes  a  practice  of  this  and  has 
the  most  effective  smoke-prevention  ordinance  in  the  land.11 


Department  of  Nuisances 


(Address  all  general  communications  to  the  AMERICAN  Civic 
ASSOCIATION,    Union  Trust  Building,  Washington,  D.    C. 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 3 

THE  NUISANCE         .        .        .        .        .        .        .  4 

ITS  ABATEMENT 5 

BOILER-ROOM  ECONOMY    .        .    Paul  M.  Chamberlain  7 

PROPER  HAND-FIRING            13 

SUCCESSFUL  SMOKE  LAWS  AND  THEIR  ENFORCEMENT  16 

THE  SMOKE  NUISANCE  AND  THE  LAW    .     Cyrus  Looker  21 

THE  SMOKE  NUISANCE  ON  LOCOMOTIVES 

George  W.  Welden  31 

THE  RAILWAY  SMOKE  PROBLEM    .        .     A.  W.  Gibbs  34 

GENERAL  NOTES 50 

SMOKE  TALK 51 

INTERNATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  FOR  THE  PREVENTION  OF 

SMOKE            54 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 56 


/.  Horace  McFarland  Company,  Harriiburg,  Pa. 


THE  SMOKE  NUISANCE 


INTRODUCTION 

The  second  pamphlet  issued  by  the  American  Civic  Asso- 
ciation after  its  organization  in  1904  was  one  dealing  with 
the  smoke  nuisance  prepared  by  Frederick  Law  Olmsted,  Jr., 
of  Brookline,  Massachusetts.  It  has  had  a  wide  circulation 
and  has  proved  a  most  useful  statement  of  fundamental  prin- 
ciples. A  number  of  editions  have  been  called  for.  Since  its 
publication,  however,  there  has  been  a  very  great  and  encour- 
aging development  of  public  sentiment  in  the  question  and  a 
corresponding  demand  for  information  and  concrete  sugges- 
tions. This  present  pamphlet  is  intended  to  meet  that  need. 
As  R.  C.  Harris,  Property  Commissioner  of  Toronto,  said, 
"  I  believe  that  an  interchange  of  ideas,  and  a  tendency  toward 
uniform  legislation,  will  greatly  assist  in  the  remedy  of  this 
public  nuisance." 

The  present  pamphlet  is  intended  to  provide  this  inter- 
change of  ideas  and  to  promote  a  tendency  towards  uniform 
legislation,  and  generally  to  create  an  intelligent  public  opinion 
on  the  smoke  nuisance  and  to  indicate  measures  of  effective 
remedy. 

The  pamphlet  contains  Mr.  Olmsted's  original  leaflet 
brought  up  to  date,  with  references  to  the  recent  statutes  and 
ordinances.  It  also  contains  the  helpful  paper  of  Mr.  George 
W.  Welden,  of  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford 
Railroad,  on  "  The  Smoke  Nuisance  on  Railroad  Locomotives," 
which  paper  was  read  at  the  Providence  meeting  of  the  Ameri- 
can Civic  Association  in  November,  1907;  also  the  larger  part 
of  Paul  M.  Chamberlain's  paper  on  "  Boiler  Room  Economy," 
delivered  before  the  Milwaukee  meeting  of  the  International 
Association  for  the  Abatement  of  the  Smoke  Nuisance.* 

Members  of  the  Association  and  others  interested  in  this 
work  will  find  the  recent  pamphlet  prepared  by  D.  T.  Randall, 
issued  by  the  Federal  Government  through  the  Geological 
Survey,  and  the  pamphlet  by  Prof.  L.  P.  Breckenridge,  on 
"How  to  Burn  Soft  Coal  Without  Smoke,"  issued  by  the 
University  of  Illinois,  extremely  useful  documents. 

* "  The  Smoke  Nuisance  and  the  Law,"  in  the  present  edition, 
brings  the  legal  phase  up  to  191 1. 

270345 


4  AMERICAN   CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

1.  THE  NUISANCE 

The  dweller  in  a  town  burning  bituminous  coal  needs  no 
definition  of  the  smoke  nuisance.  The  great  cloud  that  hangs 
over  the  city  like  a  pall  can  be  seen  from  any  neighboring  hill- 
top, and  the  dweller  within  is  only  too  well  aware  of  the 
splotches  of  soot  that  settle  on  every  object  in  the  city,  bedim- 
ming  buildings,  spoiling  curtains,  injuring  books,  and  increas- 
ing the  laundry  bill.  The  direct  menace  to  the  public  health 
in  fostering  tuberculous  conditions  by  loading  the  air  with 
carbon  particles  to  lodge  in  the  lungs,  and  by  causing  house- 
keepers to  keep  the  windows  shut  for  fear  of  the  soot  that 
floats  in  when  they  are  open,  is  equaled  only  by  the  mentally 
and  physically  depressing  effect  of  the  pall  which  shuts  out 
the  life-giving  and  germ-destroying  sunshine.  Our  city  parks 
have  mostly  lost  their  evergreen  character,  where  it  existed, 
as  conifers  cannot  long  endure  city  smoke.  Thus  one  treat- 
ment of  the  most  pleasing  variations  in  landscape  is  made 
impossible. 

Dr.  George  M.  Goler,  health  officer  of  Rochester,  New 
York,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  American  Civic  Association 
and  National  Municipal  League  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island, 
November,  1907,  says: 

"The  old  saying  'free  as  air,'  so  often  quoted,  should  in 
cities  be  changed  to  'as  dear  as  air.'  The  poor  man  or  poor 
woman,  compelled  to  live  near  the  middle  of  the  city,  must 
necessarily  breathe  smoke-polluted  air.  This  smoke-polluted 
air  attacks  the  organs  of  the  bodies,  chiefly  the  lungs.  The 
poor  man  cannot  afford  to  go  to  the  suburbs  to  breathe  smoke- 
less air.  He  must  live  in  the  center  of  the  city.  When  he  suf- 
fers from  lung  disease,  the  doctor  prescribes  what  he  cannot 
afford  to  have, — pure  air. 

"  As  an  example,  we  show  the  following  table  of  suspected 
lung  diseases  for  a  period  of  years.  From  1895  to  1904  the  num- 
ber of  cases  of  suspected  lung  disease  increased  with  the  in- 
crease of  the  smoke  nuisance,  and  was  highest  during  the  year 
of  the  coal  strike.  The  use  of  bituminous  coal  under  boilers 
that  are  improperly  fired  creates  smoke  that  means  disease, 
uncleanliness,  poverty,  death  and  wretchedness. 

"Examination  for  diphtheria  and  tuberculosis:  1895, 
756;  1900,  1,188:  1903,  2,613;  1905,  2,692;  1906,  2,731;  1907, 
1,825."* 

The  poet  Shelley  describes  the  capital  of  the  nether  world  as 

*Estimated  for  1907. 


THE    SMOKE    NUISANCE  5 

"A  city  much  like  London — 
A  populous  and  a  smoky  city." 

Prof.  C.  Roberts  recently  estimated  the  canopy  daily  over- 
shadowing London  as  fifty  tons  of  solid  carbon,  and  two 
hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  carbonic  oxide  gas,  acids  and  hydro- 
carbons, and  its  black  fogs  are  proved  to  be  caused  largely 
by  the  smoke  issuing  from  its  vast  forest  of  chimneys.  London, 
however,  is  at  last  realizing  the  frightful  price  its  people  are 
paying  in  sickness,  disease,  death  and  a  yearly  economic  loss, 
estimated  at  £4,000,000,  for  such  so-callecl  evidences  of  "ma- 
terial prosperity,"  and  is  with  increasing  rapidity  and  effective- 
ness doing  away  with  this,  perhaps  its  greatest  of  all  public 
nuisances.  Our  American  cities,  too,  are  at  last  awakening, 
and  are  seeing  the  new  light  of  a  brighter,  clearer,  smokeless 
day.  Where  once  belching  chimneys,  soot-laden  air,  clanging 
noises  and  landscape  blighted  with  flaming  billboards  and 
ten  thousand  intruding  poles  and  wires  were  considered  signs 
of  municipal  "push,"  prosperity  and  business  health,  such 
evidences  are  now  rightly  more  often  termed  municipal  igno- 
rance, crime,  and  business  gangrene., 

2.  ITS    ABATEMENT 

There  should  be  complete  understanding  oj  the  scientific 
•fact-  that  visible  black  smoke  is  made  up  almost  entirely  oj  un- 
consumed  particles  oj  combustible  carbon,  or  coal,  wasted  into 
the  atmosphere  through  imperfect  combustion.  It  is  economic 
waste,  in  itself;  and  its  emission  creates  additional  waste. 

No  really  intelligent  person  now  denies  the  imperative 
economic  and  sanitary  need  for  abating  or  suppressing  the  smoke 
evil,  nor  the  feasibility  and  absolute  power  of  existing  authori- 
ties to  do  so  where  the  will  and  proper  public  sentiment  exist. 

The  tearing  down  of  a  dangerous  house,  the  draining  of  a 
pestiferous  swamp,  the  cleaning  of  a  filthy  street,  or  of  a  back 
yard,  are  simple  remedies  for  simple  nuisances.  The  abolition 
of  smoke,  on  the  other  hand,  affects  the  whole  community, 
since  the  production  of  smoke  is  claimed,  especially  by  the 
careless  or  the  uninformed,  to  be  completely  bound  up  with 
the  material  and  industrial  welfare  of  a  city.  The  evil  is  one 
that  grows  with  the  growth  of  the  community,  and  its  abate- 
ment calls  for  a  large,  comprehensive  and  tactful  treatment, 
with  thorough  cooperation  between  the  different  parties  to 
the  problem.  Education  of  the  public,  the  factory  owners 


6  AMERICAN   CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

and  the  firemen  to  the  bad  economy  and  the  wrong  of  smoke 
emission  is  of  great  importance. 

The  smoke  nuisance  can  be  abated  either  by  right  stoking 
and  furnaces  insuring  proper  combustion  of  smoky  fuels,  or 
by  substituting  a  smokeless  fuel.  The  latter,  especially  in 
large  steam  plants,  may  not  be  possible  from  an  economical 
standpoint,  when  the  smoky  fuel  is  materially  cheaper  than 
the  smokeless  fuel. 

The  other  remedy — proper  combustion — is  a  matter  of 
taking  the  pains  to  burn  the  coal  or  other  material  properly, 
and  it  can  be  substantially  accomplished  wherever  people  realize 
that  the  result  is  worth  the  trouble  necessary  to  secure  it. 

The  first  step  in  abating  smoke  is  to  pass  a  law  or  an  ordi- 
nance, making  the  emission  of  black  or  dark  gray  smoke  an 
unlawful  act,  punishable  by  fine.  Such  regulations  are  already 
in  force  in  New  York,  Cleveland,  Milwaukee,  Toronto,  Toledo, 
Indianapolis,  Detroit,  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  numer- 
ous other  cities.  The  second  step  is  to  get  the  law  enforced. 
This  may  be  done  by  a  smoke-abatement  department,  or,  as 
in  some  cities,  by  the  health  department.  In  any  case,  the 
work  should  be  done  under  the  direction  of  smoke  inspectors, 
or  officers  delegated  for  the  purpose,  who  understand  boilers 
and  their  construction,  and  whose  chief  duty  is  to  see  that  the 
smoke  is  abated.  It  is  purely  a  question  of  engineering,  and 
any  manufacturer  or  others  may  readily  obtain  expert  aid  that 
will  enable  him  to  comply  with  the  law.  A  part  of  the  work 
of  the  official  might  well  be  in  educating  both  the  public  and 
the  coal  consumer  in  the  actual  economic  advantages  of  per- 
fect combustion  and  consequent  freedom  from  smoke. 

The  actual  means  employed  to  abate  any  specific  smoking 
chimney  must  necessarily  depend  on  local  conditions.  The 
kind  of  fuel,  the  kind  of  service,  the  size  of  the  plant,  the  char- 
acter of  labor,  the  variation  in  load,  the  strength  of  the  fire, 
are  some  of  the  determining  factors.  The  ££oblem  to  be 
solved  is  to  get  the  comparatively  cool,  smoky,  gaseous  prod- 
uct, given  off  from  cold  fuel  when  applied  to  a  hot  fire,  so 
mixed  with  air  and  so  heated  that  its  proper  combustion  will 
foe  secured.  This  result,  in  some  cases,  may  best  be  obtained 
by  careful  and  frequent  hand-firing;  in  others,  by  mechanical 
stokers,  which  feed  the  fuel  so  slowly,  regularly  and  evenly 
that  the  volatile  gases  are  distilled  off  gradually,  and  mixed 
with  air  sufficient  to  insure  their  perfect  combustion  in  the 
hotter  parts  of  the  furnace.  In  other  plants,  the  introduction 
of  steam  jets  in  such  positions  that  they  act  during  the  firing 


THE    SMOKE   NUISANCE  7 

of  the  furnace  as  conveyers  and  mixers  of  a  larger  air-supply, 
offers  a  solution.  Other  devices,  including  down-draft  furnaces, 
gas-generating  furnaces,  under-feed  furnaces,  furnaces  for 
burning  powdered  coal,  and  furnaces  using  oil  as  an  auxiliary 
heater,  have  been  successfully  applied  under  certain  conditions. 
In  every  case,  smoke  is  a  preventable  nuisance,  and  every 
smoking  plant  or  locomotive  is  a  sign  of  wastefulness,  and  a 
disregard  for  the  rights  of  the  public.  The  proprietor  should 
be  as  interested  in  abating  the  nuisance  as  his  neighbors,  and 
it  has  been  the  experience  of  smoke-law  officials  that  men  who 
have  bitterly  complained  at  being  forced  to  make  improvements 
have  afterward  thanked  the  smoke-abating  department  for 
the  increased  economy  of  the  plant. 


BOILER  ROOM  ECONOMY 

Extract  from  an  illustrated  lecture  delivered  before  the  International 
Association  for  the  Prevention  o!  Smoke,  Milwaukee,  Wis., 
June  26,  1907,  by  Paul  M.  Chamberlain,  of  Chicago. 

A    SAVING     AT    THE     BOILER    WILL     PRODUCE    A 
DIRECT    SAVING 

As  the  problem  of  increased  savings  presents  itself  to  us, 
is  it  not  strange  that  so  much  of  the  thought,  expense  and 
experiment  should  have  been  put  on  the  engine  end?  Assum- 
ing the  case  of  apparatus  having  an  output  of  50%  of  the 
heat  value  of  the  coal,  and  the  engine  and  condenser  an  effi- 
ciency of  14%  (corresponding  to  18  pounds  of  steam  per  H.  P.), 
an  increase  of  efficiency  ot  the  engine  to  27%  (probably  the 
limit)  would  mean  only  a  saving  of  half  the  difference  between 
14%  and  27%,  or  6£%.  A  saving  at  the  boiler  end  will  pro- 
duce a  direct  saving.  The  nearer  to  the  original  source  of 
power  we  get  the  saving,  the  more  intact  is  our  efficiency. 
This  takes  us  back  to  the  burning  of  the  coal,  and  it  is  with 
this  problem  that  this  association  is  most  vitally  concerned. 
We  use  the  term  "  efficiency  "  here  in  the  sense  of  ratio  of  energy 
gotten  out  to  energy  supplied.  The  efficient  burning  of  coal 
is  very  closely  related  to  smokeless  combustion.  The  theory 
of  complete  and  smokeless  combustion  is  very  simple  in 
statement,  and  the  statement  of  conditions  under  which  it 
will  take  place  is  equally  simple.  Coal  is  composed,  for  the 
most  part,  of  fixed  carbon,  volatile  matter,  moisture  and  ash. 
As  the  great  majority  of  steam  plants  employ  bituminous 


AMERICAN   CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 


*iU!!!i!M'i|*Q«nMC 


jnxro 

CARBON 


K.CO 

CARBON 


AS* 

I  SULPHUR 


i^'f^:-;^  SULPHUR 


Fig.  1.    Composition  of  various  bituminous  coals. 

coal,  we  shall  consider  only  it.  Fig.  i  will  show  approximately 
the  proportions  of  the  various  constituents. 

The  bituminous  coal  which  gives  the  least  trouble  with 
smoke  is  that  found  in  Virginia  and  West  Virginia,  usually 
spoken  of  as  Pocahontas.  This  coal  contains  a  very  small  pro- 


THE   SMOKE   NUISANCE  9 

portion  of  ash  and  volatile  matter,  while  the  carbon  is  about 
three-quarters  of  the  whole.  In  the  Indiana  and  Illinois  coals 
the  ash  and  volatile  matter  are  high,  and  fixed  carbon  less 
than  half  the  total. 

THE    THEORY    OF    COMBUSTION 

The  burning  of  coal  is  accomplished  by  bringing  the  oxygen 
of  the  air  into  intimate  contact  with  the  combustible  elements 
under  proper  conditions  of  temperature.  In  the  calorimeter 
we  get  the  total  heat  from  coal  by  using  oxygen  under  pressure, 
and  a  perfect  mixture  ensues,  giving  the  desired  chemical 
combination.  In  the  furnace  good  combustion  is  accom- 
plished in  the  following  manner: 

The  fixed  or  free  carbon  left  in  the  form  of  coke,  when  the 
volatile  matter  has  been  driven  off,  burns  as  solid  matter, 
the  carbon  combining  with  oxygen  in  the  ratio  of  one  part  of 
carbon  to  two  of  oxygen,  forming  carbon  dioxide,  CO2- 

The  volatile  matter  or  hydrocarbons  must  first  pass  into 
a  gaseous  state  and  mix  thoroughly  with  hot  air,  forming  CO2, 
and  hydrogen  which  combines  with  oxygen  and  forms  water 
in  the  condition  of  steam  due  to  the  high  temperature. 

HOW    INCOMPLETE    COMBUSTION    OCCURS 

Incomplete  combustion  would  take  place  first,  by  insuffi- 
cient or  incomplete  mixture  of  air,  allowing  the  CO2  from  the 
coke  to  take  on  more  carbon,  giving  2  CO.  Second,  the  hydro- 
carbons mixed  with  cold  air  pass  off  unconsumed,  or  if  raised 
to  a  red  heat  and  without  sufficient  air  disengage  carbon  in 
fine  powder  and  pass  to  the  condition  of  marsh  gas  and  hydro- 
gen. The  higher  the  temperature  under  the  conditions  of 
insufficient  air,  the  greater  the  proportion  of  carbon  powder. 
//  the  carbon  powder  is  cooled  below  the  temperature  oj  ignition 
be/ore  coming  in  contact  with  oxygen,  it  passes  off  as  smoke. 

REQUIREMENTS    FOR    COMPLETE    COMBUSTION 

For  complete  combustion  it  is  necessary  to  have  not  only 
sufficient  air,  but  intimately  mixed  at  the  right  place  and 
temperature  with  the  burning  carbon  and  volatile  matter. 
Too  much  air  is  a  detriment  because  it  absorbs  the  heat  and 
acts  to  some  extent  as  an  insulator  between  the  hot  gases 
and  the  heating  surface. 


10 


AMERICAN   CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


NECESSITY  OF    PROPER    SUPPLY    OF  AIR 

The  ideal  conditions  are  to  have  at  all  times  the  proper 
supply  of  air  intimately  mixed  with  the  burning  carbon  and 
volatile  matter  gases,  and  a  combustion  or  mixing  chamber 
large  enough  to  allow  each  particle  of  carbon  to  get  its  neces- 
sary oxygen  at  the  required  temperature  for  combination. 

To  correct  as  far  as  possible  the  lack  of  ideal  conditions, 


T  COMOUS-nON         1 
*ING  CO  I 


PVUUh&CO, 


WICL  tVAPWWC    * 


BUT  WVUt.  ONL> 


MAKINO  CO, 


CHART   SMOWtNG 
EFFECT  OF  AIR  SUPPUV 


Fig.  2.    Relations  of  air  supply  to  combustion  and  efficiency. 

many  expedients  are  resorted  to,  such  as  brick  arches  over  the 
fire,  mixing  piers  and  steam  jets,  all  with  the  object  of  getting 
the  hydrocarbons  from  the  volatile  matter  in  intimate  mixture 
with  air  at  the  proper  temperature  for  ignition. 

A  simple,  ordinary  furnace,  with  proper  chimney,  proper 
grade  of  coal,  and  skillful  firing  for  uniform  demand  of  steam, 
will  give  satisfactory  combustion.  The  failure  of  economic 
and  smokeless  combustion  in  such  plants  may  occur  from  any 
one  of  three  causes:  The  proper  coal  may  not  be  available 


THE    SMOKE   NUISANCE 


ii 


or  economical;  the  demand  for  steam  may  vary  beyond  the 
capacity  of  either  chimney  or  fireman  to  meet  satisfactorily; 
the  skillful  fireman  is  likely  to  get  a  better  job.  These  three 
failures  have  been  variously  met:  Chimneys  capable  of  hand- 
ling the  maximum  duty,  with  dampers  for  the  lighter  loads; 
induced  draft  by  fans;  and  again  the  use  of  blowers  to  supply 
the  required  air  with  sufficient  chimney  to  carry  off  the  prod- 


CARBON  AND          \  /" 

SUFFICIENT  Aift     |/^v     M*}' 


CARBON   AND 

1XCSS3IVEAIR 


©      © 


Fig.  3.    Chemical  results  of  combustion. 

ucts  of  combustion;  the  high  degree  of  skill  required  on  the 
part  of  the  hand  fireman  has  been  modified  by  the  invention 
of  various  mechanical  stokers  which  will  handle  poorer  grades 
of  coal;  the  variable  load  duty  has  been  met  by  automatic 
supply  of  coal  and  air,  both  controlled  by  the  steam  pressure. 
If  a  pound  of  carbon  is  burned  to  carbon  monoxide,  or  CO, 
it  will  give  off  4,400  B.  T.  U.,  or  sufficient  heat  to  evaporate 
4.55  pounds  of  water.  If  it  is  burned  to  carbon  dioxide,  or  CO2, 
it  will  produce  14,500  B.  T.  U.,  or  evaporate  15  pounds  of 


12  AMERICAN   CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

water.  If  500%  of  air  be  supplied,  the  pound  of  carbon  will 
evaporate  only  9.3  pounds  of  water.  This  is  illustrated  graphic- 
ally by  Fig.  2. 

The  chemical  combination  of  carbon  with  oxygen  may  be 
imagined  as  taking  place  as  shown  in  Fig.  3.  The  oxygen  is 
furnished  by  the  air  in  a  mixture  with  nitrogen — four  parts  of 
nitrogen  to  one  of  oxygen.  The  atom  of  carbon  can  combine 
with  one  atom  of  oxygen,  setting  free  four  atoms  of  nitrogen, 
forming  CO,  or  with  two  atoms  of  oxygen  forming  CO2.  If 
there  is  excess  air,  the  flue  gases  will  have  free  oxygen  and  much 
nitrogen  to  take  up  heat  and  dilute  the  temperature. 

REGARDING    LOSSES 

Some  losses  to  the  stack  are  unavoidable  even  with  perfect 
combustion.  The  transfer  of  heat  to  the  boiler  from  the  gases 
is  proportionate  in  speed  to  the  difference  of  temperature 
between  the  gases  and  the  water.  As  steam  at  100  pounds 
pressure  has  a  temperature  of  388°,  it  is  apparent  that  the  flue 
temperature  must  not  be  much  below  400°  to  get  any  consid- 
erable effect  from  the  heating  surface  in  contact  with  the  gases 
near  their  exit. 

In  addition  to  the  unavoidable  loss,  there  may  be  much 
CO  and  other  gases  carrying  away  fuel  value  due  to  insufficient 
air,  incomplete  mixture,  or  lack  of  proper  temperature. 

The  chimney  may  also  carry  off  much  heat  from  excess  of 
air.  Every  four  pounds  of  air  passing  up  the  chimney  carries 
away  heat  enough  to  evaporate  about  one  pound  of  water. 

The  loss  due  to  too  much  air  through  or  over  the  fire  is 
frequently  augmented  by  leakage  through  the  brick  work. 
The  heat  wasted  by  radiation  can  be  reduced  somewhat  by 
insulating  coverings. 

The  moisture  in  coal  must  have  heat  to  evaporate  it  and  for 
every  pound  of  water  evaporated  in  the  furnace  there  is  heat 
enough  absorbed  to  have  evaporated  an  equal  amount  in  the 
boiler. 

THE    SMOKE   ABATEMENT    QUESTION 

How  can  the  smoke  be  abated  and  the  economy  increased? 
In  the  light  oj  the  joregoing  discussion,  it  is  obvious  that  the 
one  thing  needed  is  more  complete  combustion.  A  clear-headed 
smoke  doctor  is  needed  in  every  municipality,  who  is  capable 
of  examining  the  conditions  unprejudicedly  and  prescribing 
the  proper  remedy.  To  make  this  doctor's  services  of  value. 


THE   SMOKE   NUISANCE  13 

there  must  be  laws  suited  to  force  unwilling  offenders  to  mend 
their  ways. 

In  looking  for  causes  of  insufficient  and  smoky  operation, 
the  following  questions  should  be  considered: 

1.  Is  the  boiler  being  forced  beyond  its  capacity? 

2.  Is  there  sufficient  chimney  capacity? 

3.  Is  there  room  in  furnace  and  combustion  chamber  for 
proper  mixture  of  air  and  gases  before  the  gases  are  cooled  ? 

Relative  to  crowding  the  boiler:  The  rating  is  usually 
known,  or,  if  not,  can  be  computed  by  measuring  the  square 
feet  of  heating  surface  and  dividing  by  ten  for  fire  tube  boilers 
or  by  twelve  for  return  flue  boilers  to  get  the  horse-power 
rating.  The  horse-power  that  is  being  developed  can  be  ascer- 
tained by  an  evaporating  test,  weighing  water  and  allowing 
thirty-four  and  a  half  pounds  of  water  per  hour  to  the  horse- 
power, on  the  basis  of  the  water  being  evaporated  from  and  at 
212°  Fahr.  A  general  idea  of  the  horse-power  being  developed 
can  be  had  by  weighing  the  coal  for  an  hour,  or  weighing  a 
barrowful  or  shovelful  and  noting  the  amount  fired  in  an  hour. 
Many  inefficient  plants  burn  as  much  as  five  pounds  of  coal 
per  horse-power  per  hour;  dividing  by  five  would  give  some 
idea  of  the  horse-power  being  developed. 

The  question  of  chimney  capacity,  superficially  investi- 
gated, can  be  observed  by  taking  a  glass  "U"  tube  and  getting 
the  draft  in  the  furnace.  If  there  is  found  as  low  as  one-quarter 
inch  of  water  under  hand-fired  conditions,  the  probability  is 
that  there  is  insufficient  draft. 

The  question  of  the  proper  combustion  space  is  more 
difficult  to  define.  If  the  boiler  is  not  running  with  too  much 
over-load,  with  sufficient  draft,  and  there  is  smoke,  then  the 
presumption  is  that  there  is  too  little  combustion  space  for 
hand-firing.  The  space  between  the  grate  and  the  boiler  is 
in  most  cases  too  small  for  smokelessness  with  hand  firing. 

The  many  careful  observations  necessary  to  arrive  at  defi- 
nite conclusions  are  too  complicated  for  discussion  in  this 
address,  and  any  specific  problem  should  be  referred  to  men 
or  firms  whose  reputation  assures  competence  to  handle  the 
combustion  problem. 

PROPER    HAND-FIRING* 

In  previous  sections  of  this  report  it  has  been  seen  that,  in 
American  cities,  most  dependence  in  the  matter  of  smoke- 
*Extracts  from  Section  IV  of  the  Syracuse  1907  Report. 


H  AMERICAN   CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

abatement  is  put  upon  mechanical  devices.  Quite  the  opposite 
seems  to  be  true  in  Great  Britain  and  on  the  Continent,  where 
much  attention  is  paid  to  proper  methods  of  hand-firing,  and 
where  schools  are,  in  some  places,  maintained  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  firemen.  The  English  Coal  Smoke- Abatement  Society, 
some  years  ago,  addressed  a  number  of  firms  which  had  been 
successful  in  abating  smoke,  and,  of  thirty-five  satisfactory 
replies,  thirteen  ascribe  their  success  to  careful  stoking,  and 
the  replies,  as  a  whole,  demonstrate  that,  while  not  denying 
the  efficacy  of  many  mechanical  devices,  the  consensus  of 
opinion  favors  skillful  and  careful  stoking  as  of  first  importance. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  proper  training  of  firemen  has  been 
sadly  neglected.  An  intelligent  fireman  is  worthy  of  good  pay, 
but  many  of  them,  doubtless,  waste  more  than  their  wages 
daily  because  of  either  ignorance  or  carelessness  in  handling 
their  furnaces.  This  is  especially  true  in  small  plants,  and 
small  plants  preponderate  in  every  city,  and  in  these  plants 
the  possibility  of  great  economies  through  the  installation  of 
mechanical  stokers  is  small.  Yet  firemen  can  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  know  intuitively  the  chemistry  of  combustion,  and 
certain  it  is  that  they  have  never  been  instructed  in  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  their  occupation.  Muscle  and  endurance 
have  been  considered  the  chief  elements  in  the  make-up  of 
a  fireman,  and  the  arduous  duties,  too  often  performed  in 
dark,  hot  and  ill-ventilated  basements,  have  not  attracted 
many  men  of  intelligence. 

In  St.  Louis,  the  Smoke-Abatement  Department  causes  to 
be  posted  in  every  boiler-room  a  list  of  "  Directions  for  Firing." 
These  are  intended,  primarily,  for  the  users  of  low-pressure 
steam-heating  plants,  in  which  no  mechanical  device  has,  as 
yet,  proven  perfectly  satisfactory.  In  such  plants,  especially, 
and  in  all  other  hand-firing  boilers,  efficiency  is  improved, 
and  smoke  may  be  greatly  lessened  by  close  adherence  to  the 
following  rules: 

1.  Fire   frequently,   in   small   quantities,   and   at   regular 
intervals. 

2.  Break  up  lumps  to  fist-size. 

3.  Carry  a  level  surface  over  entire  grate. 

4.  Avoid  thin  and  bare  spots  on  grate. 

5.  Keep  the  fires  clean. 

6.  Fire  one  door  at  a  time,  and  wait  until  that  fire  is  in 
good  shape  before  charging  the  other  door. 

7.  Leave  furnace  door  slightly  ajar  for  one  minute  after 
each  firing. 


THE   SMOKE   NUISANCE 


The  Laundrymen's  Association  finds  an  average  increase  of  two 
collars  a  week  laundered  for  each  patron  last  year. 


GUIDE. — "Here  is  Statistics  Sammy.   He's  great  on  figures.    He 
has  a  scheme  now  to  build  a  new  city  hall  without  expense. 


SAMMY. — "How?  Extremely  simple!  By  referring  to  my  figures 
you  will  see  that  by  stopping  some  of  the  smoke,  the  taxpayers,  who 
wear  collars,  could  wear  them  longer  and  save  at  least  four  cents 
each  per  week  at  no  expense  to  anybody,  and  in  five  years — 


"but  just  a  minute!  I'll  show  you  how  Chicago  could  pay  for  the 
Panama  Canal  without  feeling  it,  if  all  the  smoke  was  stopped." 

—Chicago  Record-Herald 


16  AMERICAN   CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

3.  SUCCESSFUL    SMOKE    LAWS    AND    ORDI- 
NANCES  AND   HOW  THEY  ARE   ENFORCED* 

NEW  YORK    CITY 

The  smoke  nuisance  has  been  successfully  abated  in  New 
York  City.  The  sanitary  code  of  the  Board  of  Health  provides 
that:  "No  person  shall  cause,  suffer  or  allow  dense  smoke 
to  be  discharged  from  any  building,  vessel,  stationary  or  loco- 
motive engine,  place  or  premises,  within  the  city  of  New  York, 
or  upon  the  waters  adjacent  thereto,  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  said  city.  All  persons  participating  in  any  violation  of  this 
provision,  either  as  proprietors,  owners,  tenants,  managers, 
superintendents,  captains,  engineers,  firemen,  or  otherwise, 
shall  be  severally  liable  therefor." 

Under  this  law,  Judge  Fawcett  imposed  on  the  Transit 
Development  Company,  a  subsidiary  concern  of  the  Brooklyn 
Rapid  Transit  Company,  a  fine  of  $500  on  November  i,  1907. 
This  company  is  completely  readjusting  its  plant  in  compliance 
with  the  law.  Health  Commissioner  Thomas  Darlington  has 
expressed  his  opinion,  and  that  of  the  Health  Board,  that  the 
ordinance  is,  on  the  whole,  most  satisfactory. 

SPRINGFIELD.    MASS. 

Chapter  236,  Acts  of  1900,  Commonwealth  of  Massachu- 
setts, is  "An  act  to  abate  the  smoke  nuisance  in  the  city  of 
Springfield." 

William  T.  Gale,  City  Forester,  in  charge  of  the  abatement 
of  smoke  in  Springfield,  November  29,  1907,  is  authority  for 
the  statement:  "Springfield  has  been  quite  successful;  and 
I  think  that  we  are  the  cleanest  city  of  80,000  population  in 
New  England, — at  least  so  far  as  smoke  goes.  The  Boston  & 
Albany  railway,  and  a  few  of  the  larger  concerns,  have  given 
us  some  trouble.  I  brought  suits  in  1906  against  the  gas  com- 
pany, three  breweries,  and  two  railway  heating  plants,  which 
resulted  in  their  being  fined  $50  each.  This  year  I  have  had 
all  the  railroads,  one  brewery  (second  case),  and  the  street 
railway  in  court,  all  but  the  last  being  fined  $50,  and  the  street 
railway  company  $150." 

*Copies  of  the  laws  and  ordinances  herein  mentioned  may  be 
obtained  by  addressing  the  proper  authorities. 


THE   SMOKE   NUISANCE  17 

DISTRICT  OF   COLUMBIA 

An  Act  of  Congress  for  the  prevention  of  smoke  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  for  other  purposes,  was  passed  in 
1899.  Here  is  a  summary  of  the  smoke  inspector's  last  annual 
report: 

Violations  of  law  reported 906 

Cases  referred  to  corporation  counsel ^ 72 

Cases  in  which  fines  or  forfeitures  were  paid  . .   64 
Cases  in  which  personal  bonds  were  taken ....      2 

Cases  acquitted i 

Cases  pending 14 

Amount  of  fines  and  forfeitures  paid $1,615 

One  inspector  is  at  work  all  the  time  enforcing  this  law. 
In  practice,  prosecutions  are  based  on  emissions  lasting  one 
minute  or  more,  and  a  prosecution  is  instituted  for  every 
emission  lasting  more  than  a  minute. 

WILLIAM  C.  WOODWARD,  Health  Officer, 

District  of  Columbia,  December  4,  1907. 

DENVER,   COLORADO 

"During  the  year  1907,  there  were  $60,000  worth  of  equip- 
ment installed  in  Denver,  principally  in  mechanical  stokers, 
and  they  are  giving  good  results.  The  outlook  is  good  here." 

PHIL  MCCARTY,  City  Boiler  and  Smoke  Inspector, 

D-enver,  December  5,  1907. 

CLEVELAND,   OHIO 

Ordinance  No.  41,586,  approved  June  4,  1903,  is  "An  ordi- 
nance to  prevent  the  emission  of  dense,  black  or  gray  smoke 
from  smoke-stacks,  chimneys,  locomotive  engines,  and  all 
other  smoke-emitting  stacks." 

Cleveland  is  one  oj  the  jew  cities  which  are  really  suppressing 
locomotive  smoke.  According  to  John  Krause,  supervising 
engineer,  "50  per  cent  of  the  smoke  in  Cleveland  has  been 
abated  since  this  department  was  organized." 

MILWAUKEE,  WIS. 

Chapter  21  of  the  general  ordinances  of  the  city  of  Mil- 
waukee, passed  May  28,  1906,  as  amended,  is  the  law. 

"  In  1906,  after  the  passage  of  the  present  ordinance,  I  had 


i8  AMERICAN   CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

seven  cases,  viz.,  two  tanning  concerns,  one  railroad,  one 
packing  company,  one  harvester  company,  and  two  manu- 
facturing concerns.  In  1907,  there  were,  up  to  this  date,  fifty- 
two  cases,  consisting  of  railroad  companies,  packing  houses, 
tanneries,  breweries,  malt  houses,  flour  mills,  planing  mills, 
coal  companies,  river  dredges,  flat  buildings,  and  various 
other  manufacturing  establishments. 

"Ninety-nine  smoke-preventing  devices  were  installed  during 
the  year.  These  comprise  three  classes  of  stokers,  the  down- 
draft  furnaces,  and  the  automatic  steam  and  air-jet  systems, 
as  follows: 

"Underfeed  stokers 32 

Traveling,  or  chain-grate  stoker 2 

Inclined  grate  stoker   15 

Down-draft  furnaces   6 

Automatic  steam  and  air- jet  systems   44 

"The  manufacturers  have,  as  a  rule,  shown  a  willingness  to 
cooperate  with  the  work  of  abating  the  smoke  nuisance." 

CHARLES  POETHKE,  Smoke  Inspector, 

Milwaukee,  November  20,  1907. 

PHILADELPHIA,   PA. 

Smoke  ordinance,  approved  December  9,  1904,  amended 
April  3,  1906. 

"During  the  year  1906,  there  have  been  1,945  investiga- 
tions made  and  reports  entered  in  this  office  by  the  smoke 
inspectors.  Sixty- two  firms  have  abated  the  smoke  nuisance. 
We  are  now  bringing  action  against  the  offenders  in  this  city, 
and  find  that  in  the  majority  of  cases  when  action  is  brought 
they  are  very  ready  to  go  out  into  the  market  and  secure  some 
appliance  for  the  abatement  of  the  nuisance." 
Annual  Report  Bureau  of  Steam  Engine  and  Boiler  Inspection, 

JOHN  M.  LUKENS,   Chief  Inspector. 

TORONTO,   CANADA 

No.  4,266.  A  by-law  to  compel  manufacturers  and  others 
creating  smoke  to  use  smoke  consumers,  passed  October  5, 
1903. 

"Our  laws  do  not  permit  of  the  abatement  of  a  fine  once 
imposed.  We  have  found  that  the  prosecution  aforementioned 
has  accomplished  a  very  great  deal  of  good,  and  that  the  people 


THE   SMOKE   NUISANCE  19 

who  formerly  treated  the  enactment  very  lightly,  are  now 
making  sincere  efforts  to  comply  with  same." 

R.  C.  HARRIS,  Property  Commissioner, 

Toronto,  December  2,  1907. 

PROVIDENCE,   R.  I. 

"There  are  plants  in  this  city  that  formerly  were  large 
smoke  producers,  and,  in  all  probability,  would  still  continue 
so,  but  for  changes  made  in  the  engineering  department  by 
employing  more  progressive  and  intelligent  help,  who  have 
made  a  very  satisfactory  showing  as  to  smoke  issue,  and  ma- 
terially diminished  the  coal  bills.  Firemen  who  can  be  hired 
for  eight  dollars  a  week,  as  in  some  of  our  large  establishments, 
cannot  be  expected  to  be  found  very  proficient  in  the  art  of 
stoking." 

H.  E.  CHADWICK,  Supervising  Engineer,  January  i,  1907. 

PITTSBURG,   PA. 

"The  cooperation  on  the  part  of  the  general  public  has 
been  remarkable.  Not  one  person  of  all  those  visited  has 
refused  to  take  some  action  toward  eliminating  the  smoke. 
The  active  force  engaged  on  this  work,  as  you  will  see  by  the 
ordinance,  consists  of  a  chief  smoke  inspector,  and  four  depu- 
ties." 

WM.  H.  REA,  Smoke  Inspector, 
Department  of  Public  Safety,  November  20,  1907. 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  Pittsburg  is  less  smoky  than 
formerly,  which  is  a  notably  hopeful  condition. 


CINCINNATI,   OHIO 

"Our  report  to  the  mayor  for  this  year  will  show  a  list  of 
over  one  hundred  plants  improved,  which  will  be  about  ten 
per  cent  of  the  whole  number  of  plants  in  the  city." 

GEORGE  SEALEY,  Chief  Smoke  Inspector,  November  20,  1907. 

The  following  cities  also  have  smoke  ordinances:  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.;  Rochester,  N.  Y.;  Syracuse,  N.  Y.;  Grand  Rapids, 
Mich.;  Reading,  Pa.;  Minneapolis;  St.  Louis;  Boston;  Dayton, 
Ohio;  Kansas  City,  Mo.;  Detroit;  Hamilton,  Canada. 


20 


AMERICAN   CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


THE  CHICAGO  COLLAR 


THB  CHICAGO  SKIRT  THE  CHICAGO  GLOVES  AFTER 

ONE  HOOK'S  WEAK 


THB  CHICAGO  DESK 


THB  CHICAGO  FACE 


THB  CHICAGO  DISEASE 

CALLED  CINDKRITIS 


TtfS  CHICAGO   APOLOGY  THE  VISITOR'S  COMMENT          THE  CHICAGO  BUILDING  SIX 

MONTHS  OtD 


— Chicago  Tribune 


THE    SMOKE   NUISANCE  21 

4.   THE    SMOKE    NUISANCE   AND   THE    LAW 

By  CYRUS  LOCHER,  ESQ.,  of  the  Cleveland  Chamber  of  Commerce* 

With  the  beginning  of  the  use  of  soft  coal  as  a  fuel 
arose  the  problem  of  how  to  get  rid  of  the  resulting  smoke. 
The  problem  has  grown  more  serious  every  year  in  every 
growing  city  where  a  large  quantity  of  bituminous  coal  is 
consumed,  and  the  dweller  in  the  town  burning  bituminous 
coal  needs  no  definition  of  the  smoke  nuisance. 

It  has  become  a  matter  of  vital  importance  to  every 
large  city  to  rid  itself  as  far  as  possible  of  smoke;  and  thatr|^i 
interest  in  the  question  is  widespread  and  fully  aroused, 
is  attested  by  the  many  methods  devised  for  the  suppres-      . 
sion  of  the  nuisance  and  the  legislation  enacted  in  all  the 
jurisdictions  where  bituminous  coal  is  the  chief  fuel.    More      \ 
than  1,500  patents  have  been  granted  by  the  United  States 
Bureau  to  inventors  of  so-called  "smoke  consumers"  and     ( 
"smoke  burners,"  and  everywhere  municipal  governments      » 
have  taken  up  seriously  the  abating  of  the  smoke  nuisance. 
But  it  does  not  require  the  testimony  of  an  expert  to  con- 
vince one  that  the  smoke  nuisance  has  by  no  means  been 
satisfactorily  abated. 

That  objectional  smoke  may  be  prevented  has  been 
demonstrated  by  experience,  although,  soft  or  bituminous 
coal  may  be  used  exclusively  as  fuel,  first,  by  careful  firing,      ( 
either  by  hand  or  the  employment  of  a  mechanical  stoker 
or  feeder,  resulting  in  a  uniform  distribution  of  fresh  coal         | 
on  the  hot  furnace  bed;  second,  by  mechanical  appliances 
designed  to  perfect  the  draught  and  cause  a  sufficient  uni- 
form degree  of  heat  to  reach  all  parts  of  the  coal,  and  thus 
avoid  a  "smothering"  producing  that  lower  degree  of  heat 
favorable  to  the  separation  of  the  material  which  makes         i 
smoke  from  the  body  of  the  coal.    Sometimes  an  entirely 
new  furnace  equipment  is  the  only  remedy. 

Smoke  abatement,  which  is  simply  complete  com- 
bustion and  utilization  of  all  heat-producing  parts  of  the 
coal,  is  economy  to  the  consumer  of  fuel.  In  every  case 
smoke  is  a  preventable  nuisance,  and  every  smoking 
plant  or  locomotive  is  a  sign  of  wastefulness  and  a  dis- 
regard for  the  rights  of  the  public.  Creating  dense  smoke 
is  a  waste  in  itself,  and  its  emission  creates  additional 
waste.  Thus  it  follows  that  the  interests  of  the  private 

*Read  before  the  Washington  meeting  of  the  American  Civic 
Association,  December  13,  1910. 


22  AMERICAN    CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

owner  and  the  public  health,  comfort  and  convenience 
run  in  parallel  lines. 

Proper  laws  for  the  regulation,  prevention  and  abate- 
ment of  "dense"  smoke  are,  therefore,  just  to  the  consumer 
of  fuel  and  highly  desirable  to  the  public. 

And  I  am  called  upon  to  discuss  some  of  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  the  law  pertaining  to  the  prevention 
of  the  smoke  evil,  rather  than  indulge  in  a  discussion  of  the 
abatement  of  smoke  from  an  engineering  standpoint. 

The  source  of  power  of  governmental  authority  to 
abate  the  smoke  nuisance  is  the  police  power  of  the  state. 
"The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the 
constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  states,  are  reserved 
to  the  states  respectively,  or  to  the  people."1  The  police 
power  is  inherent  in  the  several  states,  and  is  left  with 
them  under  the  federal  system  of  government,  and  may 
always  be  exercised  by  the  state  legislatures.2  The  fed- 
eral government  can  exercise  police  power  only  where  the 
authority  of  Congress  excludes  territorially  all  state  legis- 
lation, as,  for  instance,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  where 
the  police  power  of  Congress  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  state 
legislatures  within  their  several  jurisdictions.3  The  police 
power  inherent  in  the  states  is  not  derived  from  the  consti- 
tutions of  the  several  states,  which  merely  apportion  and 
impose  restrictions  upon  the  powers  which  the  states  inher- 
ently possess,  and  in  the  American  constitutional  system 
this  power  left  with  the  individual  states  cannot  be  taken 
from  them,  either  wholly  or  in  part. 

WHAT  Is  THE  POLICE  POWER? — It  is  inadvisable  to 
attempt  to  form  any  definition  of  the  police  power  which 
absolutely  indicates  its  limits  by  including  everything  to 
which  it  may  extend  and  excluding  everything  to  which  it 
cannot  extend.  The  courts  have  considered  it  better  to 
decide  each  case  arising  whether  the  police  power  extends 
thereto.  Many  definitions,  however,  have  been  attempted 
in  a  general  way,  and  the  sum  of  these  definitions  is,  that 
the  police  power  in  its  broadest  acceptation  means  the 
general  power  of  the  government  to  preserve  and  promote 
the  public  welfare  by  prohibiting  all  things  hurtful  to  the 

1  Constitution  U.  S.,  Art.  X. 

2Munn  vs.  111.,  94  M.  S.  113;  Arnold  vs.  Yarders,  56  Ohio  State 
417. 

3Mases  vs.  U.  S.,  16  App.  Cas.  (D.  C.)  428;  Civil  Rights  Cases, 
109  M.  S.  3. 


THE    SMOKE    NUISANCE  23 

comfort,  safety  and  welfare  of  society  and  establishing 
such  rules  and  regulations  for  the  conduct  of  all  persons 
and  the  use  and  management  of  all  property  as  may  be 
conducive  to  the  public  interest.1  In  a  comprehensive 
sense  it  embraces  the  state's  whole  system  of  internal 
regulation  by  which  the  states  seek  not  only  to  preserve  the 
public  order  and  to  prevent  offenses  against  the  state,  but 
also  to  establish  for  the  intercourse  of  citizens  those  rules 
which  are  calculated  to  prevent  a  conflict  of  right,  to 
insure  to  each  the  uninterrupted  enjoyment  of  his  own  as 
far  as  is  reasonable  and  consistent  with  a  like  enjoyment 
of  the  rights  of  others.2  It  is  universally  conceded  that  the 
extent  and  limits  of  the  police  power  include  everything 
essential  to  the  public  safety,  health  and  convenience  of 
the  public  and  to  justify  the  abatement  by  summary 
proceedings  of  whatever  may  be  regarded  as  a  public 
nuisance.3 

The  legislature,  however,  has  no  right  arbitrarily  to 
declare  that  to  be  a  nuisance  which  is  clearly  not  so,4  but 
in  the  exercise  of  the  police  power  it  has  a  very  large  dis- 
cretion in  that  regard — a  discretion  to  which  there  is  no 
certain  and  satisfactory  limitation,5  but  the  power  must 
not  be  used  as  a  cloak  for  the  invasion  of  personal  rights 
or  private  property.6  In  order  that  a  state  statute  or  city 
ordinance  may  be  sustained  as  an  exercise  of  the  police, 
the  courts  must  be  able  to  see  (i)  that  the  enactment  has 
for  its  object  the  prevention  of  some  offence;  the  preser- 
vation of  the  public  health,  safety  or  general  welfare;7  (2) 
that  there  is  some  real  and  substantial  connection  between 
the  assumed  purpose  of  the  enactment  and  the  actual  pro- 
vision thereto,  and  that  the  latter  does  in  some  plain, 
appreciable  and  appropriate  manner  tend  towards  the 
accomplishment  of  the  object  for  which  the  power  is 
used.8 

Further  than  this  the  courts  are  not  concerned  regard- 

x  Am.  and  Eng.  Ency.,  Vol.  22,  p.  916. 
2Cooley  Const.  Line  829. 
8Lawton  vs.  State,  152  U.  S.  133. 

4  Lawton  vs.  State,  152  U.  S.  133. 

5  Conn.  vs.  Parks,  155  Mass.  531;  People  vs.  Rosenberg,  128  N.  Y. 
410. 

'Lawton  vs.  Steele,  152  U.  S.  133. 

7  State  vs.  Batement,  10  Ohio,  Dec.  68;  Lawton  vs.  Steele,  152 
U.  S.  133- 

8 Lawton  vs.  Steele,  152  A.  3,  133. 


24  AMERICAN    CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

ing  the  reasonableness  of  the  exercise  of  the  police  power 
by  the  legislatures.  Thus,  the  legislature  may  declare  a 
nuisance  and  punish  individual  conduct  which  is  injurious 
to  the  health,  safety  and  welfare  of  the  public,  though  it 
does  not  come  within  the  adjudicated  scope  of  the  common 
law  offence  of  a  nuisance,1  and  this  without  violating  any 
constitutional  provision,  because  it  makes  no  compensa- 
tion to  the  owner;2  that  is,  the  legislature  does  not  invade 
the  judicial  province  by  making  that  unlawful  which  is 
not  inherently  a  nuisance.3 

STATE  MAY  DELEGATE  POWER  TO  ABATE  NUISANCE. — 
I  The  legislature  may,  and  frequently  does,  confer  upon  mu- 
nicipal corporations  the  power  to  declare  what  shall  be 
deemed  nuisances  within  the  city  limits.  A  municipal 
corporation  derives  its  control  over  nuisances  from  the 
legislature  creating  it.  All  powers  a  municipal  corporation, 
created  by  special  or  general  laws,  may  exercise,  emanate 
from  the  state  creating  it.4  Therefore,  a  municipal  cor- 
poration has  only  such  powers  as  are  expressly  delegated 
to  it  by  the  legislature  and  such  implied  powers  necessary 
to  carry  on  those  expressly  granted. 

MAY  ABATE  NUISANCES  PER  SE  WITHOUT  GRANT. — It 
is  settled  without  dissent  that,  without  special  grant  or 
authority,  municipal  corporations  may  as  a  common  law 
power  cause  the  abatement  of  nuisances  that  are  such  per 
se.5  But  when  city  authorities  proceed  to  abate  a  nuisance, 
!  with  no  authority  except  that  of  the  common  law,  they 
are  justified,  not  because  they  are  officials,  but  because 
they  are  citizens  injured  by  the  thing  abated,6  and  the 
extent  of  municipal  authority,  as  such,  over  nuisances 
depends  upon  powers  conferred  in  this  regard  upon  the 
municipality.  They  may  be  general  or  specific,  or  both. 
The  authority  to  preserve  the  health  and  safety  of  the 
inhabitants  and  their  property,  as  well  as  the  authority 
to  prevent  and  abate  nuisances  is  a  sufficient  foundation 
for  ordinances  to  suppress  and  abate  whatever  is  intrinsi- 
cally and  individually  a  nuisance.7 

1  State  vs.  McKee,  73  Conn.  18. 
'Watertown  vs.  Mayo,  109  U.  S.  115. 
"State  vs.  Lawer,  185  Mo.  79. 
v  *  Herman  vs.  Chicago,  no  111.  408. 
6Rayane  vs.  Loranger,  66  Mich.  373. 
'Wood  on  Nuisances,  Sec.  743. 
7  Dillon  Municipal  Corporations  (4th  Ed.),  Sec.  379. 


THE    SMOKE    NUISANCE  25 

GENERAL  GRANT  NOT  AUTHORITY  TO  DECLARE  NUIS- 
ANCE WHICH  IN  FACT  Is  NOT  SUCH. — The  delegation  of 
authority  over  nuisances  is  very  apt  to  raise  troublesome 
questions,  and  the  authority  itself  is  likely  to  be  taken  as 
broader  than  it  is.  A  municipal  corporation,  although 
authorized  in  general  terms  to  declare  what  shall  constitute 
a  nuisance,  may  not  declare  that  to  be  a  nuisance  which  in 
fact  is  not.1  A  law  that  confers  upon  the  common  council 
"Full  power  and  authority  to  remove  and  abate  any 
nuisance  injurious  to  health  or  safety"  does  not  confer 
upon  the  council  the  conclusive  jurisdiction  to  determine 
what  constitutes  a  nuisance,  but  only  authorizes  the  abate- 
ment of  what  is  in  fact  a  common  nuisance.2  The  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  when  considering  the  power  con-  j 
f  erred  upon  a  city  to  declare  what  shall  be  a  nuisance,  said, 
"It  is  a  doctrine  not  to  be  tolerated  in  this  country  that 
a  municipal  corporation  without  express  authority  from 
the  legislature,  can,  by  its  mere  declaration  that  it  is 
one,  subject  it  to  removal  by  any  person  supposed 
to  be  aggrieved,  or  even  by  the  city  itself.  This  would 
place  every  house,  every  business,  and  all  the  property 
of  the  city  at  the  uncontrolled  will  of  the  temporary 
authorities."3 

ORDINANCE  MUST  BE  REASONABLE. — The  power  to 
abate  nuisances,  like  all  other  municipal  powers,  must 
be  reasonably  exercised;  and,  although  the  power  be  given 
to  be  exercised  in  any  manner  the  corporate  authorities 
may  deem  expedient,  it  is  not  an  unlimited  power,  and 
such  means  only  are  intended  as  are  reasonably  necessary 
for  the  public  good.  The  power  to  abate  nuisances  cannot 
be  so  absolute  as  to  be  beyond  the  cognizance  of  the  courts 
to  determine  whether  it  has  been  reasonably  exercised  in 
a  given  case  or  not.4  If  the  power  conferred  on  a  munici- 
pality is  general,  then  the  provision  must  be  reasonable, 
and,  in  fact,  it  would  be  poor  policy  to  enact  even  a  valid 
ordinance,  the  enforcement  of  which  would  drive  away  or 
annihilate  the  manufacturing  interests  of  a  city.  On  the 
other  hand,  if,  as  seems  to  be  true,  the  emission  of  dense 
smoke  may  be  prevented  by  the  use  of  mechanical 

1  City  of  Evansville  vs.  Miller,  146  Ind.  613;  Bank  vs.  Saralls  129 
Ind.  201,  and  cases  cited  therein. 

2  Hennessey  vs.  City  of  St.  Paul. 
8Yates  vs.  Milwaukee,  10  Wall  U.  S.  497- 
*  Rendering  Co.  vs.  Behr,  77  Mo.  91. 


26  AMERICAN    CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

devices,  or  by  the  employment  of  competent  firemen,  or 
by  both,  the  commercial  interests  cannot  hide  behind  the 
expense  or  the  inconvenience  of  complying  with  the  law.1 
But  the  power  of  a  court  to  declare  a  city  ordinance 
unreasonable,  and  therefore  void,  is  practically  restricted 
to  cases  in  which  the  legislature  has  enacted  nothing  on 
the  subject  matter  of  the  ordinance,  or  where  the  same 
was  passed  under  the  supposed  incidental  power  of  the 
corporation  merely,  or  where  the  municipal  corporation 
has  authority  only  by  a  general  grant.2 

Where  the  legislature  has  given  a  municipal  corporation 
specific  authority  to  declare  under  what  circumstances  the 
emission  of  "dense"  smoke  is  a  nuisance,  and  where  the 
municipality  has  not  exceeded  the  authority  granted  it, 
the  determination  of  the  city  authorities  is  conclusive  of 
the  question. 

Much  confusion  results  from  the  failure  to  distinguish 
between  the  right  of  a  community  to  abate  a  public 
nuisance  which  is  inherent,  and  in  regard  to  which  the 
important  thing  is  to  prove  the  thing  complained  of  to  be 
a  public  nuisance,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  purely  statu- 
tory right  of  a  community  to  deal  with  that  which  the  legis- 
lature or  municipality,  properly  exercising  a  delegated 
police  power  of  the  legislature,  declares  to  be  a  nuisance. 
One  right  is  a  common  law  right  raised  by  the  facts,  the 
other  a  right  lying  within  the  discretion  of  the  legislature, 
in  the  exercise  of  its  police  power.  Smoke  alone  was  not 
a  nuisance  at  common  law,  and  when  a  municipality 
having  authority  from  the  legislature  only  in  general 
terms  declares  it  a  nuisance  per  se,  that  does  not  make  it 
so,  and  before  it  can  be  held  to  be  a  nuisance  it  must  be 
shown  to  be  an  "annoyance  and  injury  to  a  portion  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  city,"3  and  the  difficulty  of  prov- 
ing damages  in  each  case  practically  nullifies  a  smoke 
ordinance. 

LEGISLATURE  MAY  CONFER  SPECIFIC  AUTHORITY. — The 
legislature  may  empower  the  city  specifically  to  declare 
the  emission  of  dense  smoke  within  the  city  limits  to  be  a 
nuisance  per  se,  and,  having  specific  authority,  it  is  com- 
petent for  a  municipal  corporation  to  declare  that  a  nui- 
sance which  is  not  so  in  fact.4  When  the  legislature  itself 

1 185  Mo.  79;  16  App.  D.  C-  428,  29  W.  L.  B.  364. 

*A  Coal  Float  vs.  City  of  Jeffersonville,  112  Ind.  15. 

8  St.  Louis  vs.  Packing  Co.,  141  Mo.  375. 

4  Dillon  Minn.  Car.  Sees.,  374,  95. 


THE    SMOKE    NUISANCE  27 

acts,  or  authorizes  a  municipality  to  act  in  a  definite  way 
and  the  municipality  does  so  within  the  authority  con- 
ferred, the  courts  will  not  look  too  closely  at  the  question 
of  policy  or  reasonableness.1  In  other  words,  it  is  only  in 
extreme  cases  that  the  courts  have  the  power  to  declare 
a  municipal  ordinance,  passed  pursuant  to  express  legis- 
lative authority,  invalid  on  the  grounds  that  it  is  unreason- 
able, arbitrary  and  oppressive.2  What  the  legislature 
distinctly  says  may  be  done  cannot  be  set  aside  by  the 
courts  because  they  may  deem  it  unreasonable  or  against 
sound  policy.3 

MUST  BE  CERTAIN,  NOT  VAGUE  IN  ITS  TERMS.— Granted 
the  proper  legislative  authority,  the  power  must  be  exer- 
cised by  ordinance  and  not  committed  to  the  discretion  , 
of  municipal  officers.    A  valid  ordinance  declaring  the! 
emission  of  dense  smoke  a  nuisance,  and  providing  for  the 
abatement  of  the  same,  must  fix  the  duty  or  liability  of  the 
citizens  by  definite,  intelligible,  prescribed  rules,  and  the 
rights  of  a  citizen  cannot  be  made  to  depend  on  the  discre- 
tion of  any  official,  high  or  low.4  . 

It  had  been  held  by  courts  that  the  words  "emission  \  I 
of  dense  black  or  gray  smoke"  are  vague  and  uncertain,5  j 
but  these  decisions  are  outweighed  by  the  trend  of  later 
decisions  throughout  the  country.  It  is  a  practical  ques- 
tion, and,  as  a  practical  matter,  every  one  knows  what  is 
meant  by  "dense  smoke;"  it  is  easily  recognized  by  the 
sense  of  sight/  and  leaves  its  mark  wherever  it  falls,6  and 
it  has  been  demonstrated  that  convictions  may  be  obtained 
in  the  ordinary  prosaic  manner  of  asking  witnesses  of  what 
they  have  seen.  The  ordinary  man  knows  what  "dense" 
smoke  is  and  the  juryman  may  be  trusted  with  such  testi- 
mony. Juries  and  courts  will  not  pretend  to  be  more 
ignorant  than  the  rest  of  mankind.7  Whether  smoke 
coming  fron  a  chimney  or  locomotive  is  "dense"  is  always 
a  question  of  fact  for  the  jury.8 

1  State  vs.  Favor,   185    Mo.   79;   Lawton  vs.  State,   152   U.  S. 

133- 

2  24  Ky.  L.  Rep.  615. 

3  Dillon  Minn.  Car.  Sec.  328. 

4 St.  Louis  vs.  Packing  Co.,  14  Mo.  375. 
6Sigler  vs.  Cleveland,  3  Nisi  Prius. 

6  Harmon    vs.  Chicago,  no,  111.,  400;  St.  Paul  vs.  Hougbro,  100 
N.  W.  472. 

7  Mum  vs.  Burch,  25  111.  35. 

8Penn.  Co.  vs.  Chicago,  107,  111.,  App.  37. 


28  AMERICAN    CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

The  exception  of  private  residences  from  the  operations 
of  such  ordinances  has  been  often  passed  upon  by  the 
courts,  and  the  law  on  that  may  be  taken  as  settled 
that  such  exceptions  do  not  invalidate  smoke  ordinances.1 

It  is  further  submitted  that  a  municipal  corporation, 
with  authority  from  the  legislature  by  general  grant  or 
specific  authority  to  regulate  the  smoke  nuisance,  has  the 
power  to  prevent  smoke,  by  making  such  provisions  for 
the  installation  of  boilers  or  the  use  of  mechanical  devices, 
and  for  proper  stoking  and  firing,  as  are  reasonable. 

NOT  INTERFERENCE  WITH  INTERSTATE  COMMERCE. — 
The  provision  in  ordinance  to  abate  smoke  as  to  tugs,  loco- 
motives, etc.,  is  upheld  on  the  ground  that,  while  they  may 
engage  in  interstate  commerce  and  Congress  has  the  power 
to  control  interstate  commerce,  Congress  has  not  yet 
acted,  and  it  is  only  repugnant  and  interfering  local  legis- 
lation that  must  give  way  to  the  paramount  laws  of  Con- 
gress constitutionally  enacted.  Therefore,  an  ordinance 
providing  for  the  abatement  of  dense  smoke  does  not 
impose  any  restraint  on  the  use  of  boats,  locomotives,  etc., 
although  engaged  in  general  commerce,  other  than  is 
consistent  with  law.2 

LINE  OF  RECENT  DECISIONS.— There  is  a  line  of  com- 
paratively late  decisions  that  hold  smoke  ordinances  declar- 
ing the  emission  of  "dense"  smoke  to  be  a  nuisance  per  se, 
and  passed  pursuant  to  a  general  grant  of  power  from  the 
legislature,  valid.  A  typical  and  much-quoted  case  on 
both  points,  viz.,  the  delegation  of  police  power  to  a  muni- 
cipal corporation  and  that  smoke  is  a  nuisance  per  se,  is 
Harmon  vs.  Chicago  (no  111.  400).  After  a  close  reading 
of  the  case,  one  can  only  conjecture  whether  the  court 
would  have  upheld  the  ordinance  had  it  not  so  definitely 
made  up  its  mind  that  "dense"  smoke  is  a  nuisance  per  se 
in  populous  cities.  Holding  "dense"  smoke  in  a  populous 
city  a  nuisance  per  se  enabled  the  court  to  bridge  over 
some  troublesome  questions  as  to  the  authority  of  a  muni- 
cipal corporation  to  deal  with  what  it  had  declared  to  be 
a  nuisance.  This  case  is  valuable  because  it  expresses  the 
healthy  doctrine  that  the  emission  of  "dense"  smoke  in 
populous  cities  is  a  nuisance  in  itself,  enabling  municipal 
corporations  to  abate  "dense"  smoke  without  specific 
authority  from  the  legislature. 
*86  Mich.  273;  no,  111.,  400;  85  Mo.  79. 
*  Harmon  vs.  Chicago,  no,  111.,  400. 


THE    SMOKE   NUISANCE  29 

Courts  do  not  require  proof  that  fire  will  burn,  or  that 
powder  will  explode,  or  that  many  other  processes  of  na- 
ture and  art  produce  certain  known  effects.1  So  courts 
have  taken  judicial  notice  of  the  fact  known  to  all  men 
that  the  emission  and  discharge  of  dense  smoke  into  the 
atmosphere  in  a  large  and  populous  city  is  of  itself  a 
nuisance  to  the  general  public  of  such  city;  is  injurious 
to  vegetation,  to  many  kinds  of  goods,  and  annoying  to 
the  people.  This  knowledge  is  so  generally  diffused  in 
large  cities  that  no  court  or  jury  could  be  without  it.2 
"In  other  words,  in  these  decisions,  courts  hold  that 
which  was  not  a  nuisance  per  se  at  common  law, 
may  be  such  in  a  populous  city,  and  thereby  confer 
upon  municipal  corporations  ample  power  to  effectually 
deal  with,  prevent  and  abate  a  nuisance  which  of 
recent  years  has  greatly  interfered  with  the  health, 
comfort  and  convenience  of  those  who  congregate  in 
great  centers  of  population  and  which  arises  from  the 
complex  conditions  of  modern  life.  Such  decisions  are 
in  line  with  the  enlightened  judicial  opinions  which  recog- 
nize the  plenary  power  of  a  municipality  to  deal  with, 
prevent  and  abate  those  things  which  result  in  annoyance, 
inconvenience  and  discomfiture,  as  nuisances  which  were 
not  recognized  as  such  under  the  general  principle  of  the 
common  law,  but  in  recent  years  have  come  to  be  such  in 
many  of  our  large  cities.  At  common  law  a  nuisance  was 
anything  that  worked  hurt,  inconvenience  or  damage.  A 
common  or  public  nuisance  was  that  which  affected  the 
public,  or  was  an  annoyance  to  the  king's  subjects  at  large. 
Precisely,  that  is  the  character  of  "dense"  smoke.3  The 
decisions  that  recognize  "dense"  smoke  in  a  populous 
city  as  a  nuisance  per  se,  conform  to  the  idea  that  the 
law  is  a  progressive  science,  and  have  been  valuable 
in  several  cities  in  preventing  and  abating  the  emission 
of  smoke. 

In  conclusion,  we  may  say  that  the  source  of  authority 
to  prevent  and  abate  the  smoke  nuisance  is  the  police 
power  of  the  state;  the  state  may  delegate  this  authority 
to  municipal  corporations;  at  common  law  "dense"  smoke 
was  not  a  nuisance  per  se,  and  is  not  such  now  in  most 
jurisdictions,  except  in  those  jurisdictions  where  courts 

1  State  vs.  Hayes,  78  Mo.  307-318. 

2  Field  &  Co.  vs.  Chicago,  44  111.  App.  410. 

3  Harmon  vs.  Chicago,  no,  111.,  400. 


30  AMERICAN    CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

have  held  "dense"  smoke  in  a  populous  city  to  be  a  nui- 
sance per  se,  and,  to  deal  with  as  such,  must  have  specific 
authority  from  the  legislature;  the  power  must  be  exer- 
cised by  statute  or  ordinance,  which  must  be  definite, 
intelligible  and  reasonable,  and  must  not  again  be  delegated 
to  municipal  officers,  high  or  low,  in  their  discretion 
either  to  declare  or  define;  where  the  right  created  by  the 
legislature  arises  under  a  general  power  and  not  by  specific 
authority  to  declare  and  abate  "dense"  smoke  a  nuisance 
per  se,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  court  in  every  case  upon  proper 
proof  to  decide  whether  the  facts  constitute  a  nuisance;  and 
where  the  right  created  by  the  legislature  arises  under 
specific  authority  to  declare  "dense"  smoke  a  nuisance,  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  court  to  decide  whether  the  facts  consti- 
tute what  the  legislature  or  the  common  council,  assuming 
a  proper  exercise  of  the  power  granted  it,  had  declared  and 
defined  as  a  nuisance. 

In  view  of  the  advanced  legislation  and  judicial  deci- 
sions in  recent  years,  we  may  well  say  that  the  law  pertain- 
ing to  the  smoke  nuisance  is  progressive,  and  will  keep 
pace  with  the  popular  sentiment  regarding  the  emission  of 
"dense"  smoke  into  the  air  in  large  centers  of  population. 


THE   SMOKE   NUISANCE  3i 

5.  RAILROAD  SMOKE 
THE    SMOKE    NUISANCE    ON    LOCOMOTIVES* 

By  GEORGE  W.  WELDEN,  Superintendent  of  Motive  Power  on  the 
New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad 

We  appreciate  your  kind  invitation,  granting  us  the  privi- 
lege of  having  a  representative  here  to  say  something  on  the 
subject  in  question,  and  to  explain  as  best  we  can  our  attitude, 
efforts  and  desires  in  connection  with  the  matter  of  smoke 
abatement  or  elimination. 

In  the  remarks  that  follow,  what  I  shall  say  regarding 
conditions  on  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad 
will,  I  think,  apply  generally  to  all  railroads  using  bituminous 
coal  as  a  fuel  on  locomotives  and  is,  therefore,  not  a  local 
problem,  although  I  may  deal  with  it  in  more  or  less  of  a  per- 
sonal manner  in  my  references. 

As  operating  officials,  our  interest  in  this  subject  is  two-fold. 
First,  we  recognize  the  inconveniences  and  discomforts  such 
a  nuisance  causes  our  patrons  traveling  on  our  trains  as  well 
as  that  portion  of  the  public  who  are  so  unfortunate  (in  this 
respect)  as  to  dwell  along  our  line,  and  second,  because  of  the 
enormous  economy  and  saving  to  be  effected  in  favor  of  the 
railroad  company  could  the  desired  results  in  smoke  consump- 
tion be  fully  accomplished. 

As  I  was  looking  over  an  advance  copy  of  your  program, 
which  your  secretary  kindly  sent  me,  I  came  across  the  fol- 
lowing lines  which  were  inserted  as  a  sort  of  introductory  to 
the  importance  of  the  subject.  They  run  as  follows:  "No 
comment  is  needed  as  to  the  importance  of  dealing  with  the 
smoke  nuisance.  Everywhere  in  our  large  cities  it  is  only  too 
prominent  and  too  much  in  evidence.  How  to  abate  it  is  a 
difficult  question."  To  my  mind,  no  lines  could  be  penned 
that  would  more  exactly  express  the  real  conditions,  both  as 
to  the  importance  of  the  subject  and  the  difficulty  in  dealing 
with  it,  than  those  just  quoted. 

As  a  general  proposition,  railroad  companies  are  assumed, 
by  the  rank  and  file,  to  take  only  such  interest  in  the  question 
of  smoke  elimination  on  locomotives  as  they  are  actually 
compelled  to  through  the  clamor  of  the  public  and  the  penalties 
imposed  or  prescribed  by  ordinances  and  enforced  by  the 
courts.  If  the  above  assumption  were  really  true,  then  rail- 

*Read  at  the  Providence  Meeting  of  the  American  Civic  Associa- 
tion, November  20,  1907. 


32  AMERICAN   CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

road  operation  in  general  could  be  properly  classed  as  the  most 
miserably  managed  business  in  the  world.  The  New  York, 
New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad,  while  constituting  but  a 
small  percentage  of  the  railroad  mileage  of  the  United  States, 
and  necessarily  consuming  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  total 
fuel  burned  on  all  railroads,  could  save  annually  for  its  treasury 
approximately  $600,000  if  some  good  Samaritan  would  sug- 
gest a  method  or  device  by  means  of  which  the  black  smoke 
and  unconsumed  gases  which  now  escape  from  the  smoke 
stacks  of  our  locomotives  could  be  completely  burned  and 
used  as  effective  fuel.  Second  to  the  above-mentioned  saving 
would  be  that  accruing  to  the  treasury  because  of  the  absence 
of  the  necessity  of  defending  damage  cases  before  the  courts, 
involving,  as  they  do,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars,  and, 
naturally,  the  saving  of  the  very  large  sums  paid  annually 
in  fines.  In  addition  to  this,  many  incidental  savings  would 
be  made  in  the  form  of  less  labor  and  time  required  to  clean 
all  classes  of  equipment  both  inside  and  out,  including  an 
increased  life  for  the  varnish  on  all  classes  of  equipment. 
Coupled  with  this  would  be  a  decidedly  improved  appearance. 

What  has  been  said  should  suffice  to  impress  you  with  the 
idea  that  we  at  least  realize  in  the  keenest  sense  our  situation 
and  what  great  economies  there  are  ahead  if  we  can  only 
reach  them.  You  may  also  have  gathered  the  impression  that 
we  consider  the  abatement  of  the  smoke  nuisance  on  loco- 
motives a  hopeless  task  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  are  ready  to 
throw  up  our  hands.  To  this  I  desire  to  say  that  we  are  still 
optimists  on  the  subject.  We  still  have  hopes. 

I  presume  it  will  be  of  interest  to  you  to  know  what  has 
really  been  done  in  the  past  in  the  way  of  fighting  this  monster, 
what  is  being  done  at  present,  and  also  the  future  outlook. 

In  the  past  we  have  tried  not  only  on  our  locomotives,  but 
also  on  our  stationary  plants,  every  known  device  and  method 
brought  to  our  attention  which,  in  our  mechanical  judgment, 
had  the  least  semblance  of  a  promise  of  success,  and  this,  too, 
without  regard  to  the  first  cost  of  application,  which,  in  many 
cases,  amounted  to  a  considerable  sum.  Up  to,  but  not 
including,  our  present  experiments,  we  have,  without  exception, 
met  only  with  signal  defeat. 

The  primary  cause  of  my  appearing  before  you  today  in 
the  role  of  a  smoke  champion  is  not  because  of  my  fame  as  an 
expert  on  this  subject,  but  principally  because  your  President 
reads  the  papers  and  had  noticed  an  account  in  one  of  the 
scientific  periodicals  explaining  at  great  length  and  with  con- 


THE   SMOKE   NUISANCE  33 

siderable  color  the  great  success  the  New  Haven  Road  was 
having  with  a  new  type  of  smoke  consumer  then  being  tried 
on  one  of  their  locomotives.  He  desired  that  the  details  and 
workings  of  this  device  and  its  success  be  brought  to  your 
attention. 

As  the  New  Haven  Road  is  at  present  experimenting  or 
arranging  to  experiment  with  four  different  patented  devices 
for  consuming  the  smoke  on  locomotives,  and  as  we  must,  as 
a  matter  of  fairness  and  policy,  refrain  from  advocating  in 
advance  any  particular  device,  it  is  not  therefore  within  my 
province  either  to  minutely  describe  or  express  a  preference 
for  one  as  against  the  other.  We  hope  they  will  all  do  well. 

The  particular  device  described  in  the  newspaper  article 
referred  to  and  the  one  that  has  been  the  longest  on  trial 
did  have  at  first  great  promise  of  success,  and  we  sincerely 
hoped  to  have  something  really  good  to  offer  this  Association 
at  this  meeting  on  a  subject  on  which  they  are  so  deeply  inter- 
ested; but  we  have  met  with  so  many  obstacles  in  the  course 
of  operation  that  we  do  not  feel  like  raising  your  hopes  too 
high,  and  will  only  say  now  that  we  feel  that  in  time  we  may  be 
able  to  overcome  some  of  these  and  yet  realize  the  promised 
success,  as  we  feel  there  is  still  considerable  merit  in  the  device. 
We  have  enough  confidence  in  its  merits  at  least  to  begin  at 
the  first  and  do  our  work  all  over  again.  I  will  hazard  this 
opinion  on  the  device :  If  we  can  manage  to  keep  the  mechanism 
together  and  make  the  device  commercially  practicable,  it 
would  almost  completely  consume  the  smoke,  I  might  say 
would  rival  hard-coal-burning  locomotives.  Other  similar 
devices  now  under  test  are  practically  in  the  same  degree  of 
perfection  and  are  as  yet  only  experiments. 

Considering  the  present  development  of  the  art  of  smoke 
consumption  on  locomotives  with  the  incomplete  devices  so 
far  produced  for  eliminating  the  smoke,  there  seems,  at  present, 
but  one  alternative  left,  and  one  through  which  immediate 
relief  may  be  had;  and  that  is  the  good  intelligent  fireman, 
the  only  real  smoke-preventer  just  now.  It  is  to  this  individual 
that  we  have  turned  our  undivided  attention  and  are  making 
every  effort  to  instruct  him  and  educate  him  as  fully  as  possible 
how  to  fire  a  locomotive  so  as  to  get  both  economy  in  fuel  and 
at  the  same  time  prevent  making  great  clouds  of  dense,  black 
smoke.  To  the  uninitiated  this  matter  of  educating  engineers 
and  firemen  with  reference  to  smoke  prevention  might  seem 
an  easy  or  insignificant  matter,  but  you  will  more  fully  realize 
what  a  great  task  it  is  and  why  better  results  are  not  had  in 


34  AMERICAN   CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

general  throughout  the  country  when  you  understand  that  on 
the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad  alone  there 
are  one  thousand  five  hundred  locomotive  engineers,  each 
an  individual  handling  his  locomotive  in  his  own  peculiar  way, 
and  yet  conforming,  in  this  respect,  to  what  is  usually  termed 
good  practice.  With  these  one  thousand  five  hundred  engineers 
are  one  thousand  five  hundred  firemen,  upon  whose  skill  in 
handling  the  scoop  depends  the  degree  in  which  the  black 
smoke  nuisance  is  eliminated.  If  these  firemen  were  a  fixture, 
as  it  were,  the  training  feature  of  the  work  would  not  be  so 
great,  but  they  are  constantly  going  and  coming  all  the  time, 
making  it  necessary  to  keep  continually  posting  new  men  as  to 
their  duties.  Some  idea  of  the  difficulties  we  experience  in 
this  direction  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  during  the 
year  just  passed  we  have  taken  into  our  service  as  firemen  on 
locomotives  one  thousand  green  men,  or  about  66  per  cent  of 
the  total  force  of  firemen  has  been  renewed  in  order  to  keep 
the  quota  complete.  Can  we  really  wonder  then  that  the  re- 
sults are  not  what  they  should  be  ? 

The  smoke  nuisance  on  locomotives  stands  then  in  about 
the  light  in  which  I  have  described  it,  and  I  can  assure  you 
that  it  will  certainly  be  as  great  or  greater  relief  to  the  railroad 
companies  as  to  the  public  in  general,  when  some  real  inven- 
tive genius  comes  to  the  front  with  a  practical  smoke  consumer, 
one  which  will  operate  and  do  its  work  as  successfully  as  other 
parts  of  the  locomotive  are  now  doing.  The  New  Haven  Road 
stands  ready  to  try,  and  will  welcome  any  device  or  method 
that  has  promise  of  success.  The  cost  of  application  need  not 
cause  very  great  concern,  if  the  device  or  method  is  fully 
demonstrated  to  be  a  success  in  every  particular. 


THE   RAILWAY   SMOKE   PROBLEM 

By  A.  W.  GIBBS,  General  Superintendent  of  Motive  Power,  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad* 

Your  Secretary  has  very  courteously  requested  that  we 
prepare  for  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Association  a  state- 
ment showing  what  progress  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
Company  is  making  in  the  suppression  of  smoke  nuisance 
from  locomotives,  and  in  the  following  paper  we  will 
endeavor  to  show:  (a)  What  has  been  accomplished;  (b) 
What  we  may  hope  to  accomplish;  and,  (c)  The  reasons 
why  more  has  not  been  accomplished. 

*Read  at  the  Pittsburgh  Meeting  of  the  American  Civic  Asso- 
ciation, November  19,  1908. 


THE    SMOKE    NUISANCE  35 

To  clearly  state  the  case,  we  think  some  fundamental 
facts  should  be  agreed  upon. 

Comparisons  are  continually  being  made  between  the 
railroads  of  this  country  and  those  of  foreign  lands,  and 
these  comparisons,  while  admitting  certain  great  accom- 
plishments performed  by  our  roads,  also  dwell  on  our  short- 
comings, and  in  no  direction  more  vigorously  than  as 
regards  the  emission  of  smoke,  and  the  query  which  contin- 
ually arises  is:  Why,  when  the  railroads  have  accomplished 
so  much  in  other  directions,  have  we  today  an  equal  or 
greater  amount  of  smoke  than  we  had  many  years  ago? 
Is  it  because  the  railroads  are  supine  in  this  matter?  Or, 
is  it  because  the  problem  is  one  not  capable  of  solution? 

The  railroads  are  not  supine  in  this  matter.  They  are 
officered  and  manned  by  good  citizens,  whoae  interest  is 
really  that  of  the  rest  of  the  community;  usually,  they  live 
along  the  line  of  the  road  with  which  they  are  connected; 
the  smoke  that  annoys  others  vexes  them  to  an  equal  or 
greater  extent;  and,  aside  from  their  duty  as  citizens,  is 
the  strong  motive  of  self-interest  to  escape  annoyance  for 
reasons  of  personal  comfort. 

OWNERSHIP. — Ignoring,  for  the  present,  any  difference 
which  naturally  exists  in  the  fuels  used,  it  should  be 
remembered  that  on  some  roads,  particularly  those  of  the 
continent,  state  ownership  is  quite  general,  and  such  roads 
have  behind  them  the  financial,  as  well  as  the  moral,  back- 
ing of  the  states.  Each  road  is  not  obligated  to  the  same 
extent  to  pay  its  way,  the  comparison  being  somewhat 
like  that  of  the  Postal  Service  of  our  government;  for,  if 
the  revenue  of  the  Postal  Department  is  not  equal  to  the 
expenditures,  a  Deficiency  Bill  remedies  the  difficulty. 

Again,  the  government  has  power  in  the  direction  of 
enforcing  discipline,  not  delegated  to  private  owners;  but 
on  this  phase  of  the  question  more  will  be  said  later. 

In  our  land,  the  railroads,  to  a  great  extent,  have  grown 
up  with  the  country;  in  fact,  in  the  greater  part  of  it,  it 
may  be  said  that  the  railroad  came  first  and  the  population 
afterwards.  While  public  ownership  has  been  tried  in 
various  states,  it  has  never  been  associated,  so  far  as  we 
are  aware,  with  good  or  successful  management,  and  it 
was  long  ago  recognized  that  the  burden  of  the  develop- 
ment of  railroad  transportation  in  this  country  should  be 
settled  by  private  ownership,  rather  than  by  that  of  the 
state  or  national  government,  and  thus,  although  such 


36  AMERICAN    CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

states  as  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Georgia, 
and  probably  others,  at  one  time  owned  or  operated  rail- 
roads, at  the  present  time  no  state  is  engaged  in  the 
operation  of  any  railroad,  and  state  ownership  of  securities 
of  railroads  within  their  borders  has  largely  disappeared. 

The  development  of  the  country  thus  devolved  on 
chartered  companies,  which  had  to  secure  the  necessary 
funds  from  public  subscription.  With  the  risks  that 
attended  such  investment  of  capital,  it  became  essential 
that  these  roads  must  be  able  to  manufacture  and  sell 
transportation  at  a  profit,  having  no  revenue — if  we  neg- 
lect the  Land- Grant  roads — other  than  the  sale  'of  trans- 
portation. To  induce  the  investment  of  money  of  the 
public,  returns  in  the  form  of  dividends  must  be  made; 
otherwise,  capital  will  seek  other  outlet  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  roads  will  cease.  More  than  this,  the  road 
which  cannot  manufacture  its  transportation  for  less  than 
it  sells  it  will  inevitably  go  through  the  bankruptcy  court. 

COSTS  MUST  BE  CONSIDERED. — Today,  the  railroads  are 
facing  the  problem  of  increased  costs  of  all  factors  which 
go  to  make  the  cost  of  transportation,  whether  it  be  mate- 
rial purchased,  labor  required,  additional  taxes,  etc.,  and 
this  with  Governmental  restrictions  in  the  selling  price  of 
the  product.  It  must  be  clear,  therefore,  that,  with  the  duty 
of  affording  to  the  public  thoroughly  good  service,  the 
question  of  costs  cannot  be  overlooked. 

SOME  GOVERNING  FACTORS. — With  the  railroads  of  this 
country,  the  prime  essential  in  manufacturing  cheap  trans- 
portation is  the  possibility  of  hauling  large  train  units.  In 
this  we  differ  radically  from  the  railroads  of  other  coun- 
tries with  which  comparisons  are  most  frequently  made; 
that  is  to  say,  more  frequent  and  lighter  units  are  the  rule. 
This  means  that  in  this  country  the  locomotive  has  devel- 
oped into  a  power  plant  of  the  most  concentrated  character. 
For  instance,  where  with  a  stationary  plant  we  are  satisfied 
to  burn  from  15  to  20  pounds  of  coal  per  square  foot  of 
s;rate  surface,  per  hour,  in  many  of  our  locomotives  we 
must  be  able  to  burn  not  less  than  100  pounds  of  coal  per 
square  foot  of  grate  surface  within  the  same  period  of 
time.  In  a  stationary  plant,  fluctuations  in  the  demand  are 
comparatively  slight,  and  can  usually  be  anticipated  and 
prepared  for  in  advance,  while  with  the  locomotive,  on 
the  other  hand,  we  must  be  able  to  vary  the  output 
enormously  within  an  extremely  short  period  of  time.  For 


THE   SMOKE   NUISANCE  37 

instance,  a  locomotive  may  be  working  at  full  power, 
producing  little  smoke,  and  be  suddenly  forced  to  shut 
off  or  stop,  under  which  condition  the  fire  will  not  adapt 
itself  immediately  to  the  changed  requirements,  and,  even 
with  care,  under  such  circumstances,  the  emission  of  smoke 
is  certain.  The  reason  for  this  is  that,  while  working  with 
forced  draft,  there  is  a  fair  balance  between  the  rate  at 
which  the  coal  is  consumed  and  the  air  drawn  over  the 
fire  to  complete  the  combustion,  and  the  volatile  material 
is  distilling  off  at  a  fairly  uniform  rate.  With  the  cessation 
of  the  draft,  but  with  the  coal  still  emitting  quantities  of 
volatile  gases,  air  is  not  drawn  in  in  sufficient  quantity, 
with  the  result  so  frequently  experienced.  Again,  many 
coals  which,  when  burned  in  a  leisurely  manner,  give  little 
or  no  visible  smoke,  will  give  great  annoyance  when  the  rate 
of  combustion  is  doubled  or  trebled  as  the  case  may  be. 
Consequently,  it  may  reasonably  be  expected  that  ter- 
minals in  level  country,  where  trains  can  be  handled  in 
and  out  of  the  station  without  excessive  demand  on  the 
locomotive,  are  likely  to  be  more  nearly  smokeless  than 
those  where  the  locomotive  must  be  overworked  from  the 
start. 

LIMITATIONS  OF  SIZE. — Limitations  of  space,  such  as 
width  of  gauge,  tunnels,  bridges  and  other  clearances, 
restrict  us  in  the  possible  dimensions  of  the  locomotive 
power  plant;  consequently,  the  whole  plant — particularly 
the  boiler — is  operated  at  an  intensity  nowhere  else 
required.  This  is  the  crux  of  the  whole  situation;  for  while 
it  is  possible  to  burn  almost  any  fuel  smokelessly,  pro- 
vided the  operation  be  not  too  hurried,  it  requires  consider- 
able skill  and  the  best  appliances  to  do  so  when  the  rate 
of  combustion  is  forced  to  the  utmost. 

The  question  may  now  very  properly  be  asked:  How  do 
the  conditions  of  the  present  day  differ  from  those  of  the 
past,  and  why  is  this  question  of  smoke  prevention  more 
important  now  than  ever  before? 

In  answer  to  this  it  may  be  stated:  First,  that  while  the' 
design  of  the  locomotive  in  its  essential  details  differs  but 
slightly  from  the  older  types,  there  has  been  a  great  in-  \ 
crease  in  the  number  and  size  of  the  locomotives  and  in  the 
demands  made  on  them.    Secondly,  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
the  complaint  against  smoke  usually  comes  from  cities 
and  towns,  rather  than  from  the  country.   This  is  natural, 
for  the  reason  that  there  are  more  people  and  more  loco- 


38  AMERICAN   CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

motives  at  the  terminal,  and  it  is  just  there  that  conditions 
are  naturally  the  worst,  for  it  is  at  the  terminals  where  old 
fires  must  be  cleaned  and  new  ones  started.  It  is  then,  of 
all  times,  that  smoke  is  most  unavoidable.  It  is  also  true 
that  many  railroads  have  built  their  terminals  in  what  was 
then  the  country,  but  cities  have  grown  up  around  them, 
and  with  the  growth  come  the  complaints.  The  public  de- 
mands facilities  in  the  heart  of  business  centers,  in  order  to 
cheapen  drayage  and  afford  convenient  access  for  travelers. 

OTHER  SOURCES  OF  SMOKE. — Again,  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  railroads  are  not  the  only  factors  in 
the  problem.  In  any  city  where  bituminous  coal  is  used 
for  domestic  fires  and  for  stationary  plants,  the  increase 
in  the  amount  of  smoke  made  over  previous  years  is  almost 
directly  proportional  to  the  increase  in  population  and 
manufacturing  industries;  and  while  many  of  the  manu- 
facturing plants  have  made  great  progress  in  the  reduction 
of  smoke,  the  restrictions  brought  about  by  municipal 
agitation  have  been  the  cause,  in  more  than  one  case,  of 
the  removal  to  other  locations. 

In  the  case  of  the  domestic  fire,  little  or  no  progress  has 
been  made,  from  the  standpoint  of  reduction  in  the  amount 
and  character  of  the  smoke,  nor  is  improvement  probable, 
on  account  of  conditions.  While  one  of  these  little  chim- 
neys may  not  attract  much  attention  from  the  smoke 
which  it  emits,  they  are  responsible,  in  the  aggregate,  for 
a  very  great  part  of  the  total  defilement.  It  has  been 
proved  that  the  combustion  in  the  domestic  fire  is  apt  to 
be  far  less  complete  than  in  the  case  of  industrial  or  loco- 
motive fires,  for  the  reason  that  the  consumption  is  usually 
very  sluggish  and  a  considerable  amount  of  tarry  matter 
exudes  and  is  carried  off  as  soot,  whereas  in  the  other  fire 
the  temperature  is  high  enough  to  insure  relatively  com- 
plete combustion.  Many  municipal  ordinances  establish- 
ing penalties  for  the  emission  of  black  smoke  expressly 
exempt  the  domestic  chimney,  and  wisely  so,  for  the 
reason  that  no  remedy  for  this  condition  of  smokiness  has 
been  presented,  and  many  householders  cannot  afford  to 
purchase  the  high-priced  smokeless  fuels;  but  this  much 
should  be  clearly  understood,  that  the  domestic  fire  largely 
influences  the  general  condition,  due  to  the  great  number 
of  small  contributions,  and  for  the  same  reason  it  should 
be  understood  that  every  encouragement  should  be  offered 
the  housekeeper  to  use  a  smokeless  fuel,  if  possible. 


THE   SMOKE   NUISANCE  39 

METHODS  OF  SOLVING  PROBLEM. — With  the  foregoing 
difficulties  set  forth,  the  citizen  will  naturally  ask  of  the 
railroad:  What  have  you  done,  and  what  are  you  going 
to  do? 

The  means  which  the  railroad  has  at  its  command  for 
the  elimination  of  smoke,  are:  (i)  The  use  of  compara- 
tively smokeless  fuels;  (2)  The  use  of  devices  of  various 
kinds  which  may  allow  the  use  of  otherwise  smoky  fuels; 
and,  (3)  Education  of  the  men  operating  locomotives  and 
supervising  their  work. 

FUEL  AVAILABLE. — It  is  evident  that  the  railroads  must 
produce  power  with  the  fuel  of  the  country  through  which 
they  run,  and  a  glance  at  a  geological  map  of  this  country 
will  convince  any  one  that  bituminous  coal  is  that  with 
which  this  question  must  be  settled.  Of  the  other  fuels, 
anthracite  is  confined  to  practically  a  few  counties  in  the 
eastern  part  of  Pennsylvania.  The  amount  of  anthracite 
mined  is  a  trifle  more  than  70,000,006  tons  each  year.  It 
is  the  ideal  fuel  for  domestic  purposes  and  for  use  in  plants 
where  its  cost  is  not  prohibitive.  The  total  amount  is  so 
limited,  however,  that,  were  the  demand  to  be  on  this  fuel 
alone,  the  supply  would  be  inadequate,  in  illustration  of 
which,  we  submit  the  following  statement  of  the  consump- 
tion, for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1907,  on  twenty 
railroads  which,  from  their  geographical  location,  would 
naturally  have  the  first  claims  on  this  fuel,  for  the  reason 
that  they  are  nearest  the  anthracite  field,  viz: 

Anthracite  Bituminous 

Coal  (Tons)  Coal  (Tons) 

Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company 61,297.25     7,159,627.55 

Pennsylvania  Company 2,128,994.00 

Northern  Central  Railway  Company. . . .  22,364.00       604,856.00 

Phila.,  Baltimore  &  Washington  R.  R.  . .  637,765.45 

Long  Island  Railroad 156,494.84        155,618.52 

Pgh.,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis  Ry.  1,758,501.00 

Vandalia  Railroad 560,973.00 

Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad 214,461.00 

Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad 20,451.05     4,782,434.25 

New  York  Central  &  Hudson  River  R.  R.  216,624.00     4,242,476.00 

Michigan  Central  Railroad 1,245,628.00 

Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern  Ry..  1,998,902.00 

Lake  Erie  &  Western  Railroad 300,613.00 

New  York,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  539,614.00 

Central  Railroad  of  New  Jersey 607,617.00        318,348.50 

Delaware  &  Hudson  Company 902,769.00        196,183.00 

New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  R.R.  34,268.00     1,830,701.00 

Boston  &  Maine  Railroad 1,440,454.00 

Erie  Railroad 263,158.00     2,216,058.00 

Philadelphia  &  Reading  Railway 1,145,134.70       903,565.10 


40  AMERICAN   CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

These  roads  consume  annually  some  thirty-five  and 
two-third  million  tons,  three  and  one-half  million  tons  of 
which  is  anthracite.  Assuming  that  the  entire  consumption 
of  these  roads  were  anthracite,  it  will  be  seen  that  this 
small  group  alone  would  consume  more  than  one-half  of 
the  total  amount  of  anthracite  mined.  While  such  action 
would  doubtless  stimulate  the  production,  it  would  but 
hasten  the  disappearance  of  this  most  valuable  fuel,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  enhancement  in  price  which  would  most 
assuredly  follow  and  directly  affect  every  householder  now 
dependent  on  this  fuel.  Granting  that  the  anthracite  thus 
absorbed  by  the  railroads  were  replaced  by  bituminous 
coal  for  domestic  purposes,  the  smoke  situation  would  be 
far  worse  than  at  the  present  because  the  numerous  small 
domestic  fires,  with  the  usually  imperfect  combustion, 
produce  more  total  smoke  than  would  the  same  amount  of 
bituminous  coal  burned  in  locomotive  furnaces.  The  item 
of  cost  to  the  railroads  would  be  such  a  tremendous 
increase  in  their  expenses  as  to  make  it  absolutely  prohibi- 
tive. A  recent  study  of  this  subject  showed  that  on  nine- 
teen of  the  principal  roads,  the  fuel  bill  exceeded  11.4  per 
cent  of  the  total  operating  expense,  or  nearly  8  per  cent 
of  the  gross  earnings. 

COKE. — The  total  production  of  coke  is  about  thirty-six 
million  tons  annually,  which  is  almost  entirely  used  in 
metallurgical  work,  for  which  there  is  no  substitute.  Re- 
membering that  in  the  production  of  coke  from  bituminous 
coal  there  is  an  initial  waste  of  about  one -third  of  the 
heating  value  of  the  fuel,  with  further  losses  from  breakage 
in  handling,  it  is  evident  that  this  attempted  solution 
would  be  an  unpardonable  waste  of  our  natural  resources. 

However,  in  the  endeavor  to  obviate  smoke,  a  great 
many  attempts  have  been  made  to  use  coke,  and  the 
records  of  the  tests  show  that  the  results  have  been  very 
unsatisfactory,  owing  to  the  difficulty  with  which  the  fuel 
is  handled, — at  times  the  heat  being  entirely  too  intense  and 
at  others  the  fire  being  almost  stopped  up  by  the  ashes 
produced.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  in  the  process  of 
burning  coal  to  coke  the  ash  originally  in  the  coal  remains 
in  the  coke,  so  that  in  burning  a  ton  of  coke  much  more 
ash  results  than  from  the  consumption  of  a  ton  of  the  coal 
from  which  it  was  made.  The  coke,  when  used,  is  satis- 
factory in  but  one  particular,  namely,  its  freedom  from 
smoke. 


THE   SMOKE   NUISANCE  41 

The  reason  that  anthracite  and  coke  are  smokeless, 
is  because  of  the  large  percentage  of  fixed  carbon  and  the 
small  percentage  of  volatile  or  flame-  and  smoke-producing 
material;  for  instance,  the  fixed  carbon  may  run  as  high  as 
90  per  cent,  volatile  matter  not  over  4  per  cent;  the  remain- 
der being  ash  and  sulphur. 

BITUMINOUS  COAL. — Of  bituminous  coal,  somewhat  over 
4oo,ooo^ons  are  mined  annually,  and  the  total  consump- 
tion of  this  fuel  by  the  railroads  of  this  country  is  estimated 
to  closely  approximate  100,000,000  tons.  This  railroad 
consumption,  it  will  be  noticed,  is  almost  sufficient  to 
exhaust  the  present  total  production  of  both  anthracite 
and  coke,  so  that  we  may  as  well  admit  that,  this  being  a 
bituminous  coal  country,  it  is  this  fuel  alone  that  we  must 
consider  in  solving  this  smoke  problem;  although  possibly 
in  certain  restricted  localities  we  may  be  justified  on 
entirely  disregarding  all  questions  of  expense  and  using 
only  smokeless  fuel — this  for  the  sole  purpose  of  controlling 
the  smoke. 

CHEMISTRY  OF  BITUMINOUS  COALS. — The  composition 
of  our  various  bituminous  coals  differs  widely.  Some  of 
them  are  relatively  smokeless.  Chemically,  these  are 
characterized  by  the  great  amount  of  fixed  carbon  and  the 
small  amount  of  volatile  or  flame-  and  smoke-producing 
constituents.  Approximately,  these  may  range  from  70  to 
80  per  cent  fixed  carbon,  from  15  to  22  per  cent  volatile 
matter,  the  remainder  being  moisture,  ash  and  sulphur. 
On  the  other  hand,  some  of  the  highly  bituminous  coals 
will  contain  less  than  50  per  cent  fixed  carbon,  and  over  40 
per  cent  volatile  material,  and  it  is  with  such  wide  vari- 
ations in  composition  that  the  question  must  be  settled. 

It  is  customary  to  group  under  the  head  of  "volatile 
material"  all  the  substances  which  will  distill  from  the 
coal  when  heated  in  a  closed  tube;  but,  on  examination,  it 
is  found  that  the  composition  of  this  material  is  quite  com- 
plex, and  it  does  not  follow  at  all  that  the  volatile  material 
of  one  coal  differs  only  in  amount  from  that  of  another 
grade.  While  much  has  yet  to  be  learned  of  the  ultimate 
composition  of  this  material,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  some 
contain  more  of  the  smoke-  or  soot-producing  constituents 
than  others.  In  other  words,  some  bituminous  coals,  while 
containing  approximately  the  same  percentage  of  volatile 
material,  are  more  difficult  to  burn  without  the  emission 
of  smoke. 


42  AMERICAN   CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

The  low-volatile  bituminous  coals  have,  unfortunately, 
the  peculiarity  that  they  are  extremely  friable  and,  even 
though  mined  in  lumpy  form,  will  very  speedily  break  up 
into  small  size ;  and  although  this  does  not  interfere  with 
their  usefulness  where  burned  slowly,  it  is  a  very  serious 
hindrance  to  their  use  in  locomotive  boilers  when  worked 
to  the  fullest  capacity,  for  the  reason  that  the  powerful 
draft  throws  out  of  the  chimney  a  very  large  part  of  the 
fuel  put  into  the  firebox,  and,  while  at  low  rates  of  combus- 
tion this  is  the  most  efficient  of  our  bituminous  coals,  this 
condition  does  not  hold  true  when  the  demands  on  the 
locomotive  are  increased.  For  locomotive  purposes,  the 
physical  structure  of  the  coal  is  actually  more  important 
than  the  chemical  composition.  The  important  require- 
ments are  that  the  coal  shall  be  fairly  lumpy;  that  it  shall 
be  fairly  uniform  in  size;  that  it  shall  not  readily  break  up 
in  the  atmosphere ;  and  that  it  shall  retain  its  form  in  the 
firebox.  When  these  conditions  are  met,  such  fuel  can  be 
burned  with  comparatively  little  smoke,  owing  to  the 
possibility  of  maintaining  a  thin,  bright  fire. 

BRIQUETTES. — A  possibility  of  the  future,  not  yet  fully 
developed,  is  the  use  of  smokeless  or  low-volatile  coals 
made  into  briquettes  by  the  addition  of  suitable  binding 
material,  after  which  the  fuel  is  pressed  into  large  blocks. 
This  practice,  long  known  and  utilized  abroad,  is  now  being 
developed  in  this  country,  very  intelligent  work  being  done 
by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  and,  while  at 
present  the  cost  of  fuel  so  produced  is  so  high  as  to  be 
prohibitive,  it  is  hoped  that  this  method  of  preparing 
fuel  may  ultimately  prove  a  factor  in  relieving  the  smoke 
nuisance. 

OIL  FUEL. — Oil  fuel  is  largely  used  in  some  parts  of  the 
Southwest,  where  there  are  great  deposits  of  oil,  other- 
wise of  little  value.  Owing  to  the  distance  and  the  diffi- 
culties of  transportation,  it  is  not  likely  that  this  fuel  can  be 
considered  as  one  available  for  railroads  other  than  those 
in  the  territory  where  such  oil  abounds,  and  it  may  be 
dimissed  from  our  consideration. 

To  recapitulate:  Anthracite,  coke  and  low- volatile 
bituminous  coal  are  all  being  used,  to  greater  or  lesser 
extent,  at  various  points  where  the  smoke  condition  is 
most  pronounced,  in  order  to  minimize  the  annoyance;  but, 
as  has  been  pointed  out,  the  extension  of  the  use  of  such 
fuels  is  distinctly  limited,  and  the  great  questiom  remains: 


THE   SMOKE   NUISANCE  43 

By  what  appliances  or  methods,  without  annoyance  to 
the  community,  shall  we  successfully  burn  the  bituminous 
coal  which  must  be  our  reliance? 

REQUIREMENTS  FOR  SMOKELESS  COMBUSTION. — There 
is  probably  no  railroad  of  importance  which  has  not  from 
time  to  time  introduced  appliances  for  this  purpose.  The 
basis  on  which  the  devices  are  planned  is  as  follows:  (i) 
To  distil  the  volatile  gases  at  as  uniform  a  rate  as  possible. 
(2)  To  present  to  the  burning  gases  an  adequate  supply  of 
air  to  effect  complete  combustion.  (3)  To  thoroughly  mix 
this  air  with  the  gases.  (4)  To  effect  this  mixture  while  the 
gases  are  still  at  a  very  high  temperature.  (5)  To  allow 
sufficient  time  for  this  mixture  and  combustion  of  the  air 
and  gases  to  take  place  before  the  heat  is  absorbed  and  the 
temperature  reduced  below  the  combustion  point.  With 
these  five  conditions  complied  with,  the  whole  difficulty 
is  overcome,  and  just  in  so  far  as  the  devices  meet  these 
five  conditions  are  they  successful. 

DEVICES. — A  bare  mention  of  all  these  devices  would  be 
tedious,  but  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  indicate  some  of  the 
methods  by  which  this  has  been  attempted. 

The  first  condition  is  the  manual  one  of  introducing 
the  coal  steadily  and  in  small  quantities,  preferably  allow- 
ing it  to  coke  near  the  door. 

The  brick  arch  placed  across  the  lower  forward  end  of 
the  firebox  and  inclined  upward  and  toward  the  rear 
acts  as  a  baffle  to  increase  the  distance  that  the  burning 
gases  must  flow  before  the  cooling  of  the  flame  is  effected. 
In  this  process,  the  arch  becomes  intensely  hot,  thus 
maintaining  the  high  temperature  while  the  fire-door  is 
momentarily  opened.  This  device  partly  meets  conditions 
4  and  5  and,  when  supplemented  by  judicious  air  admission 
above  the  fire,  partly  meets  the  last  four  conditions.  This 
— one  of  the  oldest  devices — is  possibly  the  best,  and  was 
once  the  general  standard  for  locomotives  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania and  other  railroads.  The  reason  why  it  was  not 
maintained  is  that  its  presence  in  the  firebox  is  a  very  seri- 
ous obstacle  to  the  proper  and  frequent  inspection  of  the 
interior,  on  the  perfection  of  which  examination  safety 
hinges.  The  arch  remains  incandescent  for  a  long  period, 
thus  making  proper  inspection  impracticable.  The  other 
reason  for  its  disuse  is  that  the  locomotive  is  a  power  plant 
of  such  concentrated  character  and  so  highly  forced  that 
the  arch  alone,  without  very  intelligent  firing,  will  not 


44  AMERICAN   CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

prevent  smoke.  To  illustrate,  it  is  perfectly  practicable 
to  operate  at  moderate  power  with  such  an  absence  of 
smoke  that  for  periods  of  more  than  one-half  hour  not  a 
particle  of  smoke  will  be  visible;  but  let  the  conditions 
change,  now  shutting  off,  now  working  to  the  utmost  limit 
of  capacity,  and  smoke  at  once  appears,  because  the  device 
will  not  adapt  itself  to  these  extreme  conditions. 

Other  devices  embody  one  or  more  of  the  following: 
Air-pipes  through  the  sides  of  the  firebox  to  admit  air  to 
meet  conditions  2  and  3;  this  is  only  partially  effective. 
Again,  air-pipes  more  or  less  exposed  to  the  heat  of  the  fire 
so  as  to  preheat  the  air,  are  tried,  thus  attempting  to  meet 
conditions  2,  3  and  4.  The  difficulty  with  this  type  is  that 
the  heat  of  the  fire  usually  destroys  the  device.  Still  others 
employ  steam  jets,  sometimes  superheated,  to  thoroughly 
mix  the  gases  and  comply  with  conditions  2  and  3.  Then 
there  is  the  constantly  recurring  attempt  to  bring  back  to 
the  firebox  some  of  the  smokebox  gases,  as  well  as  the 
partly  burned  cinders  there  collected.  This  has  never  been 
developed  to  an  extent  to  afford  any  promise. 

AUTOMATIC  STOKERS. — In  this  connection,  while  con- 
sidering devices,  we  cannot  omit  all  reference  to  the  ques- 
tion of  automatic  stokers.  The  general  progress  demands 
transferring  the  burden  of  great  manual  exertion  from  the 
man  to  a  machine,  the  latter  doing  the  hard  work  and  the 
man  supervising  the  action  of  the  machine.  With  this 
end  in  view,  a  great  deal  has  been  and  is  being  done 
in  the  direction  of  developing  automatic  stokers  which 
will  do  the  firing  with  a  certain  amount  of  manual 
supervision.  Of  these  devices,  quite  a  number  have 
been  devised  and  put  into  use  on  locomotives.  So 
far,  they  have  not  proven  satisfactory  and,  from  their 
imperfections,  have  not  improved  the  smoke  conditions, 
but  the  demand  for  them  is  so  urgently  recognized  by  the 
railroads,  not  only  from  the  mere  smoke  question,  but  also 
on  account  of  the  saving  in  money  and  relief  to  labor,  that 
there  is  ground  for  hope  that  in  the  comparatively  near 
future,  a  satisfactory  automatic  stoker  will  be  developed. 
The  problem  is  a  most  difficult  one,  and  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  the  brightest  and  most  practical  minds  are 
hard  at  work  on  a  solution,  it  is  difficult  to  predict  when 
success  will  be  reached. 

The  automatic  stoker,  when  perfected,  promises  to  be 
one  of  the  most  effective  appliances  to  aid  in  the  suppres- 


THE    SMOKE    NUISANCE  45 

sion  of  smoke,  for  the  reason  that  it  does  not  become  tired 
from  the  hard  work  and,  consequently,  should  do  as  well 
after  hours  of  service  as  in  the  beginning.  The  contrary  is 
the  case  with  the  man.  For  this  reason,  the  stoker,  when 
perfected,  will  come  to  stay. 

The  gist  of  the  matter  is  that  devices  alone,  unless, 
supplemented  by  intelligent  and  unremitting  attention,: 
never  long  survive.  They  start  with  a  blare  of  trumpets;' 
they  show  a  decided  improvement  over  previous  condi- 
tions; then  less  is  heard  of  them;  and,  finally,  when  inquiry 
is  made,  it  is  found  that  they  have  been  removed  as 
inefficient.  The  real  reason  is  that  while  new  they  receive 
a  degree  of  attention  that  makes  them  more  or  less  success- 
ful, and  the  credit  is  ascribed  largely  to  the  device,  when  it 
is  actually  due  to  the  care. 

Evidently,  the  real  line  of  progress  is  to  stimulate  and; 
maintain  the  intelligent  care,  and  it  is  in  the  latter  direc- 
tion that  the  most  progress  is  being  made,  and  where  there 
is  the  greatest  hope  for  the  future. 

SUPERVISION. — Let  us  now  consider  what  we  believe  to 
be  the  ultimate  solution  of  the  problem,  without  which 
the  best  fuel,  and  the  best  appliances,  will  not  be  effective 
in  reducing  smoke,  namely,  the  education  and  supervision 
of  the  men  running  and  firing  locomotives. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  on  a  large  railroad  system 
there  are  thousands  of  men  firing  and  handling  locomotives. 
First,  we  have  the  engineman,  who  runs  the  machine  and 
upon  whose  careful  and  judicious  handling  the  ease  of 
proper  firing  largely  depends;  secondly,  we  have  the  fire- 
man, whose  skill  and  interest  in  properly  firing  the  loco- 
motive must  never  flag  for  an  instant;  third,  we  have 
engine-preparers  and  ashpitmen  at  engine-houses,  who  must 
understand  how  to  clean  old  fires  and  build  new  ones  with 
a  minimum  amount  of  smoke. 

With  the  rapid  growth  of  business  and  consequent 
increase  in  the  number  of  employes,  it  must  be  realized 
that  supervision  in  this  sense  requires  a  large  force  of  men, 
for  the  reason  that,  owing  to  the  extent  of  the  territory  over 
which  any  group  of  locomotives  and  men  run,  following 
up  any  particular  set  of  men  is  a  very  different  proposition 
from  that  of  supervising  a  very  much  greater  number  of 
men  grouped  in  some  one  place,  as,  for  instance,  in  a  large 
power-house. 

The  supervision,  to  be  effective,  involves,  first,  accurate 


46  AMERICAN    CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

instruction,  and,  secondly,  repeated  personal  visitation  to 
see  whether  this  is  followed,  and,  third,  discipline  if  the 
instruction  is  persistently  disregarded,  either  from  inability 
or  indifference,  #nd  the  correction  of  abuses,  such  as  the 
improper  preparation  of  the  locomotive  for  the  run. 

To  show  how  this  supervision  is  being  effected,  it  must 
be  understood  that  the  organization  of  the  railroad  is 
practically  a  military  one.  On  each  division,  the  man  in 
charge  of  the  enginemen  and  firemen,  under  the  Super- 
intendent, is  the  Road  Foreman  of  Engines,  who  has 
assistants,  each  in  charge  of  districts  containing  a  certain 
number  of  locomotives  and  men.  In  some  cases  it  is  the 
practice  for  these  assistants  to  have  subordinates  to 
instruct  in  firing,  although  the  tendency  is  to  put  in  this 
position  men  taken  from  the  ranks  of  the  enginemen,  so 
that  their  rank  will  carry  authority  to  instruct  both 
enginemen  and  firemen.  In  addition,  smoke  inspectors, 
whose  entire  duty  is  to  report  locomotives  emitting  black 
smoke,  are  stationed  at  various  points  along  the 
division. 

PRINTED  INSTRUCTIONS. — The  management  has  pre- 
pared definite  and  uniform  instructions,  in  printed  form, 
which  have  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  all  men  responsible 
for  operating,  firing  and  attending  to  locomotives  on  the 
road  and  at  terminals.  From  these  instructions  we  quote 
the  following,  which  pertain  particularly  to  the  elimination 
of  smoke,  namely: 

"Enginemen  and  firemen  must  work  together  so  as  to 
save  coal  and  reduce  smoke." 

"The  burning  of  bituminous  coal  in  a  locomotive 
requires  air,  which  must  be  admitted  through  the  grates 
and  through  the  fire-door." 

"Smoke  means  waste  of  coal  and  must  be  avoided." 

"Large  quantities  of  coal  placed  in  the  firebox  at  one 
time  cool  down  the  fire,  cause  smoke  and  waste  coal;  small 
quantities  at  regular  intervals  will  keep  the  fire  bright, 
prevent  smoke  and  take  less  coal  to  keep  up  steam 
pressure." 

"Lumps  of  coal  should  be  broken  in  pieces  not  larger 
than  three  inches." 

"A  bright  and  level  fire  over  the  whole  grate  must 
be  carried  wherever  possible.  When  a  sloping  fire  is 
used,  no  more  coal  should  be  banked  at  the  door  than 
is  necessary." 


THE    SMOKE    NUISANCE  47 

"To  prevent  smoke  and  to  save  coal,  the  fire-door  must 
be  placed  on  or  against  the  latch  after  firing  coal  or  using 
the  scraper,  slash-bar  or  hook,  and  when  on  siding,  in 
yards,  at  terminals,  or  before  starting." 

"Before  the  throttle  is  closed,  the  blower  must  be  used 
and  the  door  placed  on  the  latch.  Firemen  must  stop  firing 
long  enough  before  steam  is  shut  off  to  prevent  smoke  and 
waste  of  coal." 

Under  present-day  conditions,  more  supervision  is 
required  than  formerly,  on  account  of  the  rapid  increase 
in  railway  business,  necessitating  the  employment  and  the 
promotion  of  men  who  have  not  been  through  the  long 
course  of  probation  formerly  the  rule.  Furthermore,  the 
importance  of  educating  and  developing  intelligent  super- 
vising officers  in  order  to  reach  the  men,  is  of  late  being 
recognized.  At  Altoona,  there  has  been  installed  a  testing 
plant  consisting  of  a  locomotive  whose  driving  wheels  rest 
on  suitable  supporting  wheels  placed  underneath  and  tak- 
ing the  place  of  the  usual  track,  the  whole  locomotive 
being  firmly  connected  to  a  dynamometer  that  maintains 
it  in  position  while  recording  the  work  performed  by  the 
locomotive,  so  that  it  is  operated  in  the  usual  way  and 
produces  the  usual  pull.  It  is  otherwise  stationary,  subject 
to  careful  inspection  and  test  entirely  impracticable  with 
the  same  locomotive  running  free  on  the  road.  By  means 
of  this  plant,  which  is  entirely  devoted  to  the  purpose  of 
securing  information,  we  are  educating  our  officers  inter- 
ested in  the  fuel  question  to  its  possibilities,  so  that  they 
may  thoroughly  understand  how  to  instruct  the  men  to 
carry  out  the  definite  printed  instructions. 

Furthermore,  we  are  recognizing  the  necessity  for 
greater  supervision  by  the  appointment  of  a  greater  num- 
ber of  supervising  officers,  so  that  the  number  of  men  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  each  will  be  small  enough  to  admit  of 
constant  personal  contact. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  in  this  connection  that  the 
cost  of  the  supervision  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  is  a 
very  serious  burden  on  the  cost  of  operation,  and  while  the 
railroads  would  not  provide  such  supervision  but  for  the 
belief  that  it  will  yield  adequate  return,  or,  from  realiza- 
tion of  the  duties  which  the  railroads  owe  the  public,  there 
must  be  a  limit  to  the  amount  of  money  which  the  railroads 
can  so  expend. 

As  stated  before,  the  cost  of  fuel  is  from  8  to  n  percent 


48  AMERICAN    CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

of  the  total  operating  cost  of  a  railroad,  and,  therefore, 
ecomomy  in  the  consumption  of  fuel  is  one  of  the  most 
obvious  ways  of  reducing  operating  expenses.  Fortu- 
nately, the  methods  described  in  the  foregoing  for  the  elim- 
ination of  smoke  from  locomotives  are  also  those  which 
must  be  followed  in  order  to  obtain  the  maximum  economy 
in  locomotive  fuel  consumption;  in  other  words,  the  crew 
making  the  least  smoke  saves  the  most  coal.  It  follows, 
therefore,  that  the  railroads  have  a  direct  financial 
interest  in  the  elimination  of  smoke  to  the  lowest  pos- 
sible limit. 

It  will  be  noted  that,  so  far,  nothing  has  been  said  of  the 
possible  solution  by  electrification. 

This  Company,  as  you  know,  is  now  engaged  in  the 
development  of  terminals  in  the  neighborhood  of  New 
York  City,  where  electric  traction  is  the  only  thing  to  be 
considered,  owing  to  the  use  of  deep  sub-aqueous  tunnels. 
This  Company  is  also  operating,  in  the  state  of  New 
Jersey,  a  fairly  long  line  on  which  multiple-unit  electric 
trains  are  operated.  While  avoiding  technicalities,  we  will 
briefly  state  that  the  multiple-unit  system  of  electric 
traction  consists  of  nothing  more  than  an  electric  road 
on  which  either  single  cars  or  sections  of  two  or  more  cars 
— each  car  having  its  separate  motor  and  control  appar- 
atus— are  formed  in  trains,  all  the  motors  being  operated 
by  one  motorman.  This  form  of  transit  is  doubtless 
familiar  to  all  of  you,  and  is  feasible  on  the  road  in  question 
in  so  far  as  passenger  movement  is  concerned,  because  it  is, 
in  a  measure,  an  isolated  road  and  does  not  have  to  face 
many  of  the  long-distance  problems ;  but  the  freight 
business  has  to  be  handled  by  steam  locomotives. 

In  the  New  York  installation,  we  are  confronted  by  the 
problem  of  both  multiple-unit  trains  and  of  through  trains 
hauled  by  electric  locomotives.  It  is  but  fair  to  say  that 
while  the  multiple-unit  train  seems  to  be  fairly  well  worked 
out,  the  problem  of  the  electric  locomotive  is  far  from  a 
satisfactory  solution  and,  although  unremitting  attention 
has  been  given  to  the  subject  for  years  past,  it  still  remains 
in  the  experimental  stage. 

In  the  same  locality, — namely  on  the  New  York  Central 
and  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroads, — 
are  two  other  systems  of  electric  traction.  In  the  former, 
electric  current  is  transmitted  to  the  train  by  means  of 
contact  of  a  sliding  shoe  with  a  third-rail  placed  at  the  side 


THE    SMOKE   NUISANCE  49 

of  the  running  track,  while  on  the  New  York,  New  Haven 
&  Hartford  Railroad,  the  transmission  is  from  a  suitably 
supported  trolley  wire  placed  above  the  tracks.  Both 
methods  have  serious  objections,  but  the  question  of  an 
electric  locomotive  of  adequate  power  and  of  thoroughly 
good  stability  for  running  has  yet  to  be  developed. 

The  cost  of  everything  electric  is  tremendous.  The 
electric  locomotives,  such  as  they  are,  cost  more  than 
double  the  steam  locomotives  that  they  replace,  and  with 
this  but  a  small  part  of  the  story  has  been  told,  as  we 
must  add  the  cost  of  track  preparation,  of  the  power  plants 
and  all  that  goes  to  make  the  electric  system  as  a  whole. 

The  demand  has  frequently  been  made  that  if  not  the 
entire  cross-country  line,  the  cities  or  terminals  should  be 
electrified.  In  some  cases,  the  same  demand  has  been  made 
where  cities  are  not  terminals  for  any  but  a  small  propor- 
tion of  the  trains  running  into  them,  which  would  mean, 
for  a  city  where  this  practice  might  prevail,  two  locomo- 
tive terminals,  one  on  each  side  of  the  city,  electri- 
fication of  the  space  within  the  city  limits,  with  a  supply 
of  special  electric  locomotives,  and  the  delay  of  a  double 
stop,  to  say  nothing  of  the  difficulties  due  to  the  interrup- 
tions of  such  functions  as  the  steam  heating  of  trains.  To 
offset  the  cost  of  this,  there  is  no  saving  whatever  in  oper- 
ation; on  the  contrary,  the  operating  cost  is  largely  in- 
creased. If  the  railroads  could  stand  the  burden  of  cost, 
it  is  certain  that  the  public  itself  would  not  tolerate  unne- 
cessary delays  of  this  kind. 

While  anything  of  the  kind  is  possible  from  an  unlimited 
expenditure  of  money,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the 
time  has  not  yet  come  when  the  enormous  outlay  of  capital 
for  the  purpose  of  electrification  of  the  railroads  would  be 
justified  by  the  returns,  and,  further,  we  assert  that  the 
capital  thus  diverted  would  be  far  more  useful  in  other 
directions. 


50  AMERICAN   CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

LARGE  SAVING  BY  CAREFUL  STOKING 

Mr.  Angus  Sinclair,  President  of  the  Society  of  Loco- 
motive Engineers,  in  his  book  on  locomotive- firing,  pages 
26  and  27,  gives  his  experience  with  two  firemen  on  the 
same  locomotive,  running  the  same  distance,  on  two 
successive  days.  The  first  fireman,  in  one  hour  and  fifty- 
five  minutes,  the  time  occupied  in  the  run,  used  eight 
thousand  pounds  of  soft  coal,  making  steam  with  diffi- 
culty, and  filling  the  atmosphere  with  smoke.  The  next 
day,  another  fireman,  with  the  same  engine,  running  the 
same  distance,  used  forty-five  hundred  pounds  of  the  same 
coal,  with  plenty  of  steam  and  no  smoke.  The  result  was 
a  saving  of  43%  per  cent  of  coal,  and  no  annoyance  from 
smoke.  As  the  first  condition  is  pretty  nearly  universal  on 
roads  where  soft  coal  is  used,  the  loss  to  the  roads  from 
ignorance  or  carelessness  must  be  enormous. 

BALTIMORE   &   OHIO   RAILROAD 

As  a  general  rule,  we  believe  we  can  successfully  fire 

our  engines  with  soft,  bituminous  coal,  which  is  mined  on 

the  line  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio,  and  which,  with  scientific 

firing,  can  be  burned  without  the  emission  of  black  smoke. 

I.  H.  MUHFELD,  General  Superintendent  of  Motive  Power. 

MEXICAN  CENTRAL   RAILROAD 

The  Mexican  Central  Railroad  is  buying  from  the  Mex- 
ican Petroleum  Company  4,000.  barrels  of  fuel  oil  daily, 
at  a  cost  of  $1.10  per  barrel.  The  road  is  increasing  the 
number  of  oil-burning  engines,  changing  over  all  the  coal- 
burners  to  oil,  and  ordering  oil-burners  for  all  their  new 
engines.  Soon  all  the  locomotives  on  the  road  will  be 
equipped  with  oil-burners. 

The  Mining  and  Scientific  Press,  September  21,  1907. 

BOSTON  &  ALBANY  RAILROAD 

An  authority  writes:  " After  an  experience  of  a  great 
many  years  in  attempts  to  do  away  with  black  smoke 
from  locomotives,  I  can  say  that  Mr.  Sinclair  is  absolutely 
correct  in  asserting  that  the  firemen  on  locomotives  can 
do  more  to  eliminate  black  smoke  than  any  smoke-con- 
suming device  ever  invented." 


THE   SMOKE   NUISANCE  5i 

SOUTHERN  PACIFIC  RAILROAD 

We  have  been  using  liquid  fuel  on  our  locomotives  for 
many  years  past,  and  now  about  all  the  engines  in  service 
are  so  equipped.  The  average  cost  of  changing  a  coal-burning 
engine  to  liquid  fuel  is  about  $500.  Through  the  use  thereof, 
steam  is  more  easily  generated,  and  regulation  of  fire  is  under 
the  absolute  control  of  the  fireman.  Oil  is  used  as  fuel  on  our 
switch  engines,  as  well  as  those  operating  in  road  service. 

H.  I.  SMALL,  General  Superintendent  Motive  Power. 


6.  SMOKE  TALK 

MATERIAL  AND   VITAL  COST 

Chicago  now  derives  a  large  income  from  fines  imposed 
for  violation  of  the  smoke  ordinances,  and  hundreds  of  fur- 
naces are  being  annually  changed  to  the  smokeless  types — 
and  none  too  soon  for  the  economical  good  of  the  city,  for  one 
of  the  great  department  store  merchants  on  State  street  has 
made  the  statement  that  his  annual  loss  because  of  goods 
being  soiled  by  smoke  amounted  to  nearly  $200,000;  that  of 
State  street,  $2,000,000,  and  the  total  loss  to  the  city  occasioned 
by  black  smoke  equaled  the  total  of  taxes  paid  by  the  city. 

He  does  not  estimate  the  total  of  deaths  from  tuberculosis, 
nor  the  number  of  sallow-faced,  cellar-grown,  oxygen-starved 
weaklings — men,  women  and  children  in  Chicago's  vast 
army  of  wealth-producing  toilers,  whose  potentiality  has  been 
so  sadly  diminished  from  this  same  smoke. 

According  to  a  recent  Berlin  consular  report,  "  One  of  the 
scientists  at  the  London  conference  stated  as  a  result  of  his 
analysis  that  between  500,000  and  1,000,000  tons  of  sulphuric 
acid  were  produced  by  the  consumption  of  16,000,000  tons  of 
coal  used  annually  in  that  city.  Citizens  are  familiar  with  the 
effect  of  the  acid  on  the  respiratory  organs.  Its  damage  is 
visible  on  buildings,  iron  surfaces  and  public  monuments. 
The  Prussian  government  pays  traveling  instructors  to  educate 
men  who  have  charge  of  furnaces." 

SENTIMENT    OR    BUSINESS 

"The  two  questions  which  gave  us  the  most  valued  infor- 
mation were  prompted  by  a  desire  to  know  just  how  the 


52  AMERICAN    CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

manufacturers  and  other  erstwhile  offenders  felt  about  it. 
The  first  of  these  questions  was: 

"'Do  you  consider  that  in  making  this  installation  of  a 
smoke-preventing  device  you  have  made  a  sacrifice  to  public 
sentiment? ' 

"To  this  question  thirty-two  replied  'no,'  and  of  ten  who 
said  'yes,'  only  five  were  using  mechanical  stokers. 

"The  other  question  was: 

"lDo  you  consider  that  the  good  accomplished  in  smoke 
abatement  is  worth  the  cost  to  manufacturers,  hotels,  etc,?'' 

"  Thirty-two  said  'yes';  two  said '  no,'  and  six  were  in  doubt." 

*Report  upon  Smoke  Abatement, 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  Chamber  of  Commerce,  1907. 

SMOKE    AND    THE  " OPEN    TOWN" 

Smoke  lays  tribute  upon  every  householder  by  making 
his  family  living  more  costly,  and  compelling  him,  if  of  limited 
means,  to  economize  where  it  were  better  that  he  should  be 
generous.  Everything  which  purifies  mind  and  morals  costs 
more  in  the  dirty  town  than  in  the  clean  town.  And  the  advo- 
cate of  law-breaking,  because  it  brings  in  money  is,  in  truth, 
an  advocate  of  driving  out  of  town  much  that  legitimately 
encourages  expenditure.  The  modern  city  is  inviting  for  homes 
and  for  visiting  when  it  has  most  to  show  of  beauty  and  taste- 
fulness.  The  "open  town"  man  is  indifferent  to  all  such 
considerations;  to  make  one  soiled  dollar  he  destroys  ten  clean 
dollars. 

GEORGE  A.  THAYER,  in  "  The  Citizens'  Bulletin." 


THE    COST    IN    ST.    LOUIS 

The  smoke  nuisance  costs  St.  Louis  more  than  $6,000,000 
a  year  in  damage  to  property  of  various  kinds  and  in  the 
estimated  amount  that  might  be  saved  by  smokeless  gas- 
producer  plants.  The  librarian  of  the  public  library  estimates 
the  damages  by  smoke  to  the  books  belonging  to  the  public 
at  $10,000  annually. 

Mr.  Meyer  says:  "During  the  fiscal  year  of  1905-06  actual 
figures  show  that  the  amount  of  dead  trees  cut  down  in  Forest 
Park  was  equivalent  to  5.4  per  cent  of  the  entire  number. 
In  my  opinion  about  three-fourths  of  the  foregoing  percentage, 

*This  is  one  of  the  most  comprehensive  reports  thus  far  issued, 
on  this  subject,  and  will  well  repay  a  very  careful  study. 


THE   SMOKE    NUISANCE 


53 


'WBLL,  THB&B  IT  IS,  MY  PLAN  FOR  THE  'CITY  BEAOTIKUL. 


"THAT  MUST  BE  THE  COMMITTEE.      I  FINISHED  IT  JUST  IN  TIME.' 


"THERE,  GENTLEMEN,  IS  THE  WAY  CHICAGO  WILL  LOOK  WHEN  OUR  IDEAS  FOR  ITS 
BEAUTIFICATION  ARE  CARRIED  OUT." 

— Chicago  Record-Herald 

or  namely,  4.05  per  cent  of  the  loss,  can  be  attributed  to  the 
effects  of  sulphuric  gases  from  smoke." 

Report  of  the  Smoke  Abatement  Committee  of 

the  Civic  League,  St.  Louis,  November,  1906. 

THE    ECONOMY    OF    SMOKELESS    COMBUSTION 

Illustrating  the  saving  of  fuel  and  the  abatement  of  smoke 
by  the  introduction  of  mechanical  stokers:    The  Springfield 


54  AMERICAN   CIVIC   ASSOCIATION 

Brewing  Company,  of  Springfield,  Mo.,  has  effected  a  saving 
of  50  per  cent  in  fuel,  the  cost  of  smokelessly  making  steam 
from  1,000  pounds  of  water  with  Weir  City  slack  at  $1.90  per 
ton  being  n.i  cents.  The  plant  has  one  Heine  boiler  of  175 
horse-power,  and  two  return-tubular  boilers  of  100  horse-power 
each.  The  steamship  "Eugene  Zimmerman,"  of  10,000  tons 
rating,  shows  the  smokeless  working  of  two  263  horse-power 
internally-fired  boilers.  This  ship  runs  between  Duluth  and 
lower  Lake  Erie  ports  and  on  the  round  trip  uses  225  tons  to 
300  tons.  PAUL  M  CHAMBERLAIN,  Chief  Engineer, 

Under-feed  Stoker  Company  of  America. 

THE   CRIME    OF    THE    CITY 

The  huge  and  ever-increasing  cities,  the  vast  manufacturing 
towns  belching  forth  smoke  and  poisonous  gases,  with  the 
crowded  dwellings  where  millions  are  forced  to  live  under  the 
most  terribly  unsanitary  conditions,  are  witnesses  to  a  crim- 
inal apathy,  an  incredible  recklessness  and  inhumanity.  Yet, 
this  is  the  one  great  and  primary  essential  of  a  people's  health 
and  well-being,  to  which  everything  should  for  the  time  be 
subordinate. 

DR.  RUSSELL  WALLACE,  in  his  recent  book, 

"Man's  Place  in  the  Universe." 


7.  THE  INTERNATIONAL   ASSOCIATION  FOR 
THE  PREVENTION  OF  SMOKE 

The  following  statements  made  by  smoke  inspectors  at 
the  Second  Annual  Convention  of  the  International  Association 
for  the  Prevention  of  Smoke,  held  at  Milwaukee,  June,  1907, 
are  of  great  value,  as  representing  the  judgment  and  views  of 
men  with  practical  experience  and  charged  with  the  special 
duty  of  smoke  abatement. 

"  Ignorant  firemen  can  destroy  the  value  of  the  best  smoke- 
preventing  appliances." 

"One  concern  saved  from  10  to  15  per  cent  in  fuel  bills 
by  paying  the  firemen  four  dollars  per  month  premium  if  they 
prevented  smoke.  After  that  there  was  no  complaint  of  smoke 
in  that  plant,  which  previously  had  proven  a  nuisance  to  the 
neighborhood.  No  changes  had  been  made  in  the  method  of 


THE   SMOKE   NUISANCE  V  '•'•.  ';..:  :'  V: '•.?'••  :#. 

firing.   The  extra  pay  stopped  the  smoke  and  created  a  saving 
in  the  fuel  bills  greater  than  the  premium  paid  the  firemen." 

"  If  ordinances  were  enacted  to  prosecute  the  owners  of  plants, 
engineers,  firemen,  and  every  one  held  responsible  for  smoke 
prevention  in  a  steam  plant,  and  the  acts  enforced,  smoke 
would  be  abated  immediately." 

"No  smoke-preventing  appliance  has  been  invented  which 
does  not  require  careful  watching  and  intelligent  operation. 
The  best  appliances  are  rendered  useless  by  carelessness  of 
owners  and  firemen." 

"A  smoking  stack  means  a  waste  of  money.  Dividends 
are  ushered  out  through  the  smoke  stack  as  readily  as  they  are 
in  any  other  department  of  a  manufacturing  establishment." 

"  Cities  and  towns  in  Illinois,  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Michigan 
are  taking  the  lead  in  smoke  prevention." 

"  Railroads  in  the  middle  West,  in  seeking  to  prevent  smoke 
from  locomotives,  have  decreased  their  fuel  bills  considerably. 
As  a  result,  some  railroads  engage  their  own  inspectors,  who 
watch  the  firing  and  report  offenders.  Firemen  reported  per- 
mitting smoke  are  laid  off  for  various  periods,  from  two  to 
thirty  days,  and  the  second  sentence  usually  stops  the  smoke 
nuisance  on  these  railroads." 

L.  P.  Breckenridge,  Professor  of  Mechanical  Engineering 
at  the  University  of  Illinois,  said  that  boilers  can  be  so  arranged 
that  there  will  be  absolutely  no  smoke. 

Smoke  Inspector  Schubert,  of  Chicago,  said  there  is  more 
than  one  million  dollars  worth  of  work  being  done  in  Chicago  to 
improve  conditions  and  to  prevent  smoke. 

"Locomotives  traveling  in  and  out  of  Cleveland  are  not 
permitted  to  emit  smoke." 

"  The  New  York  Central  is  placing  these  perfection  burners 
on  all  their  locomotives  and,  on  a  careful  test  they  made,  found 
a  saving  of  12  per  cent  in  fuel." 

"The  Pennsylvania  railroad  is  carrying  on  experiments 
to  carry  the  smoke  at  the  roundhouse  off  into  the  sewers  by 
throwing  a  spray  of  water  over  it." 

"Fresh  coal  must  not  be  added  to  the  fire  until  the  black 
gas  from  the  previous  coaling  has  passed  off." 


$&:  AMERICAN   CIVIC  ASSOCIATIO1 

8.  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Smoke  literature  is  abundant,  and  no  one  need  remain  ir 
ignorance  unless  determined  to.  The  Department  of  Public 
Nuisances,  American  Civic  Association,  will  be  glad  to  give 
further  information,  but  a  consultation  of  the  publications 
referred  to  below  will  fully  illuminate  those  who  care  to  lei 
the  light  in. 

Smoke  Abatement.    By  Wm.  Nicholson.    J.  B.  Lippincott  Coi 
pany,  1905.  $1.50. 

Report  upon  Smoke  Abatement.  Chamber  of  Commerce  Com- 
mittee, Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  1907.  42  pages. 

Study  of  400  Boiler  Tests.  United  States  Geological  Survey, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Report  on  the  Smoke  Nuisance.  By  Z.  A.  Willard,  Boston,  1907. 
18  pages. 

Publicity  Magazine.  The  Under-feed  Stoker  Company  of  Amer- 
ica, Chicago. 

Smoke  Prevention  and  Economy.  Department  of  Smoke  Abate- 
ment, Cleveland,  Ohio,  1905. 

Letters  to  Members.  Anti-Smoke  League,  213  St.  Paul  street, 
Baltimore,  Md. 

The  Smoke  Nuisance.  American  Civic  Association,  Washington, 
D.  C.,  1908.  Second  edition,  1911.  This  publication. 

The  Smoke  Nuisance.  Testimony  collected  from  letters  and 
interviews.  Edwin  R.  Warren  and  others,  Boston,  1905. 

Smoke  is  Unnecessary.  Extracts  from  letters,  text  books,  1905, 
reports  and  interviews,  Edwin  R.  Warren  and  others,  Boston. 

Smoke  and  its  Abatement.  By  Charles  H.  Benjamin,  Cleveland, 
Ohio.  In  Vol.  XXVI,  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers, 
1905. 

Smoke  Prevention  References  to  Books  and  Magazine  Articles, 
May,  1907.  Carnegie  Library,  Pittsburg,  Pa.  This  bulletin  is  a  very 
complete  index  and  should  be  consulted  by  all  who  are  interested  in 
the  subject. 

The  Burning  of  Coal  Without  Smoke  in  Boiler  Plants.  By  D.  T. 
Randall,  United  States  Geological  Survey,  1908. 

Report  Upon  Smoke  Abatement.  Syracuse  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, 1907. 

How  to  Burn  Illinois  Coal  Without  Smoke.  By  L.  P.  Brecken- 
ridge,  University  of  Illinois,  1907 


Individuals  and  concerns,  or  city  officials,  taking 
up  or  advancing  smoke  prevention  -work  are  urged  to 
communicate  with  the  American  Civic  Association, 
Union  Trust  Building,  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  to 
give,  for  general  help  and  encouragement,  all  possible 
information. 


OVERDUE 


*       7*Pr 


-V  ]      T       «    . 


U.C8CBKELEV 


LD  21-50W-8,-! 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA-  LIBRARY 


